Teva Pharmaceutical reached a settlement agreement with the California Attorney General’s office to resolve a lawsuit alleging that it engaged in anti-competitive “pay-for delay” agreements with generic drug manufacturers.
Pay-for-delay agreements allow pharmaceutical companies like Teva to continue its monopoly of a branded drug after the expiration of its patent. Generic drug manufacturers agree to postpone the entry of their more affordable medicine than the branded drug to the market. Therefore, consumers continue to pay higher prices for their prescription drug.
California AG secured nearly $70 million monetary settlement
On Monday, Attorney General Becerra announced that Teva agreed to pay $69 million to settle the anticompetitive complaint related to its Provigil, a prescription medication used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by narcolepsy, sleep apnea and shift work.
AG Becerra alleged that Teva entered into pay-for-delay agreement to postpone the entry of generic competition to maintain its monopoly of Provigil from 2006 to 2012.
