The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Pharma company Sandoz named in US price-fixing lawsuit

Sandoz
Sandoz split from Novartis in 2003 and now has annual sales in excess of $10 billion. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

The Germany-based subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is one of 20 companies in the United States targeted in a 44-state class action suit for breaching rules on fair competition.

The names of the companies were revealed on SundayExternal link by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. The lawsuit accuses the companies of inflating the prices of more than 100 different drugs.

“Sandoz’s name appears in a court case, which concerns virtually the entire pharmaceutical generics industry,” Novartis told the Swiss news agency AWP. According to the Basel-based parent company, the accusations are unfounded and will be contested vigorously.

The American prosecutor mentioned that “Teva, Sandoz, Mylan, Pfizer and 16 other generic producers” are accused of conspiring among themselves to set prices, allocate markets and distort offers of more than 100 generic products. In some cases, the price of some substances increased more than tenfold. In addition to Sandoz, a former vice president at the company, Armando Kellum, was named as an individual defendant in the case.

“We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion-dollar fraud on the American people,” said Tong. “We have emails, text messages, telephone records, and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Renovation of Chillon Castle can continue

More

Renovation of Château de Chillon can go ahead

This content was published on The cantonal parliament of Vaud has approved a loan of CHF9.5 million ($11.5 million) for Château de Chillon, the most-visited monument in Switzerland.

Read more: Renovation of Château de Chillon can go ahead
Climate Alliance: an action plan for its 20th anniversary

More

Climate Alliance presents action plan on 20th anniversary

This content was published on The Swiss Climate Alliance has presented an action plan showing how Switzerland could make a success of the energy transition and achieve a net zero balance within ten years.

Read more: Climate Alliance presents action plan on 20th anniversary
UBS economists more confident about the economy in 2025

More

UBS economists more confident about Swiss economy in 2025

This content was published on UBS economists have revised upwards their estimates of Swiss GDP growth for the current year. However, they are more pessimistic for next year, due to the spectre of US tariffs.

Read more: UBS economists more confident about Swiss economy in 2025

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR