It’s no secret that Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs. We often pay prices several times higher than patients in other countries, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services calculating that U.S. prices were 256 percent of those in 32 comparison countries. A U.S. House Report similarly found that U.S. drug prices were nearly four times higher than prices in similar countries.
Prices for critical medications have soared in recent years, increasing by approximately 20% annually each year for the past 10 years. Some drug manufacturers have taken advantage of the U.S.'s opaque healthcare system using unethical and even illegal tactics to artificially inflate the prices of drugs, prevent and delay the release of more affordable generics, and otherwise bilk the American people and their insurance plans out of billions of dollars.
At Keller Rohrback, we believe that “Big Pharma” should be held accountable for its abuses, and we’re doing our part to make that happen. We’ve successfully brought cases that returned hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers and health plan payors who have overpaid for prescription drugs due to misconduct, and we’re continuing to use the legal system to represent consumers and health plans in actions where abuses have been identified.
Active Cases & Investigations
Active Cases
Copaxone Litigation (Teva Pharmaceutical)
Copaxone is an incredibly expensive brand name Multiple Sclerosis drug, marketed by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Keller Rohrback currently represents government entities and major insurance companies in multiple pending drug pricing litigations alleging that Teva used myriad unfair and deceptive practices to manipulate the individuals and entities that selected MS treatments for health plan beneficiaries, into choosing the over-priced brand-named Copaxone over significantly less expensive generic options – resulting in institutional health plan payors expending billions of dollars on Copaxone, despite the availability of lower cost generic options. On September 30, 2020, the House Oversight Committee released findings from its investigation into Copaxone that detailed this anticompetitive conduct.
If you represent a health plan who has paid for Copaxone and want to learn more about how Keller Rohrback can help you, email or call us now for a free consultation.
Click HERE to Learn more about our ongoing litigations in this matter.
Nuvigil and EpiPen Litigation (Teva Pharmaceuticals)
Nuvigil is an expensive brand name drug used to treat excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy. EpiPen is an expensive brand name life-saving drug/device combination for the treatment of severe allergic reactions. On information that has come to light in a separate litigation, it became apparent that the manufacturer of Nuvigil allegedly conspired with the manufacturer of EpiPen to trade delaying the release of what would have been competing generic drugs on both sides in order that each manufacturer could extend the amount of time that they could sell their high-priced brand name drugs without generic competition.
If you are a person or entity that purchased Nuvigil between June 1, 2012 and June 1, 2016, you may be eligible to participate in a potential class action to recover damages. Email or call us now for a free consultation and to learn more about your legal rights.
If you represent a health plan who has paid for Nuvigil and want to learn more about how Keller Rohrback can help you, email or call us now for a free consultation.
Click HERE to learn more about our investigation into this matter.
Investigations
Humira Pricing Investigation
Humira is a powerful, but very expensive, injectable treatment that is used to treat a variety of complex health issues including rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis among many others.
The New York Times has reported that Humira manufacturer, AbbVie, has been exploiting the U.S. patent system to unfairly block generic competition in the market.
If you have used Humira, been unable to afford Humira or delayed your retirement due to the high price of Humira any time since 2016, we want to hear from you.
Click HERE to learn more about our investigation into this matter.
colchicine (Colcrys) Pricing Investigation
Keller Rohrback is investigating a conspiracy to hike the price of the drug colchicine (brand name Colcrys), primarily used to treat gout.
For decades, colchicine was a widely available, effective, and inexpensive treatment for this common form of inflammatory arthritis.
Since 2009, the price of colchicine rose dramatically, from pennies per pill to more than $7 per pill by 2019, a nearly 16-fold increase.
We believe the continued high prices of colchicine may have been the result of an illegal anti-competitive conspiracy between multiple drug companies, who agreed to delay competition in the U.S. colchicine market for years.
If you or someone you know has paid for colchicine or Colcrys between the years of 2015 and 2019, contact us.
Learn more about the investigation.
In 2022, Keller Rohrback was recognized by the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) for its role in the In re EpiPen Marketing, Sales Practice, and Antitrust Litigation.
Keller Rohrback has also been deeply involved in the massively sprawling national opioids epidemic litigation, seeking to hold opioid manufacturers responsible for the devastating consequences of flooding the country with highly addictive and dangerous prescription opioids. This series of litigations has resulted in several well-publicized favorable judgements and settlements to date.
- Lawmakers slam pharma CEOs over high prescription drugs cost - Video - The Washington Post
- "Price Increases for Prescription Drugs, 2016-2022", Office of the Assistant Secretary For Planning and Evaluation
- HHS reports surge in drug prices over past year, American Hospital Association
- Report Says 'Pervasive Abuse' Of Patents Boosts Drug Prices, Law360
- Overpatendted, Overpriced: How Excessive Pharmaceutical Patenting is Extending Monopolies and Driving up Drug Prices, I-MAK
- Drug prices rose three time faster than inflation over the last decade, even after discounts, Healthcare Finance
- 'Runaway train': Drug launch prices have grown 20% annually for more than a decade, and it's time for Congress to act, researchers say, Fierce Pharma
- It’s Time for Pharmaceutical Companies to Have Their Tobacco Moment, New York Times
- R&D Costs For Pharmaceutical Companies Do Not Explain Elevated US Drug Prices, Health Affairs
Tricks of the Trade
Big Pharma employs a variety of dishonest and anti-competitive tactics to suppress competition and unfairly inflate the prices of drugs for the American people and third-party health plan payors. Here are just a few of the strategies employed within the industry:
1. Sham Patent Litigation and Citizen Petitions:Drug companies will file dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits and citizen petitions to delay and block generic versions of their name-brand drugs in order to stifle competitors.
2. Product Hop: When drug patents are about to expire, drug companies will launch a new dosage regimen of the drug and aggressively market the new dosage scheme to get patients to switch over --- even though there is no therapeutic benefit to patients. Drug companies do this for one reason: so that patients cannot be automatically switched to the generic version at the prior dosage regimen when generics became available.
3. Marketing against generics:When generics do enter the market, drug companies will go all out to ensure that health plans continue to pay for their brand-name drugs. They will lobby doctors to write prescriptions with a “dispense as written” notation and conspire with specialty pharmacies to fill prescriptions with their name-brand drugs instead of lower-cost generics.
4. Copay Assistance: Drug companies will target health plan members with copay assistance “coupons” that relieve the plan members of some or all of their cost-sharing obligations. This means that for the health plan members, these name-brand drugs will be even less expensive than generics that are available, but they cost their health plans substantially more money. For example, a House Investigation revealed that Teva illegally directed money to supposed nonprofits that in turn provided these copay assistance coupons to Medicare recipients inviolation of federal law. The federal DOJ has sued Teva under the False Claims Act for this conduct.
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