As a result of an agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice, pharmaceutical company Apotex Ltd. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle civil complaints and to implement corrective measures to help prosecutors in their ongoing investigation of its conduct.
It has also entered into an information sharing agreement with the DoJ. Under this agreement, Apotex will give prosecutors at least 24 months’ worth of pricing information on over-the-counter drugs, including nasal sprays, cough and cold products, over-the-counter allergy products, over-the-counter skin remedies, women’s health products, prenatal and home care products and dietary supplements and other over-the-counter medicines.
The agreement comes nearly two months after Apotex announced it had submitted a proposal to the DoJ to address each of the substantive issues in the complaints in connection with its operations and sale of products to U.S. consumers.
The DoJ complaint alleges that Apotex engaged in a coordinated scheme to fix prices for authorized generic versions of certain prescription drugs sold in the United States. In particular, the complaint alleges that Apotex conspired with certain generic drug companies to fix prices for over-the-counter drugs sold in the United States.
The DoJ complaint also alleges that Apotex organized meetings with various authorized generic manufacturers for the purpose of disclosing confidential information about the development of approved generics and their pricing.