Medical Industrial Complex 

Investigation of generic ‘cartel’ expands to 300 drugs

Executives at more than a dozen generic-drug companies had a form of shorthand to describe how they conducted business, insider lingo worked out over steak dinners, cocktail receptions and rounds of golf. 

The “sandbox,” according to investigators, was the market for generic prescription drugs, where everyone was expected to play nice. 

“Fair share” described dividing up the sales pie to ensure that each company reaped continued profits. “Trashing the market” was used when a competitor ignored these unwritten rules and sold drugs for less than agreed-upon prices.

What started as an antitrust lawsuit brought by states over just two drugs in 2016 has exploded into an investigation of alleged price-fixing involving at least 16 companies and 300 drugs, Joseph Nielsen, an assistant attorney general and antitrust investigator in Connecticut who has been a leading force in the probe, said in an interview. His comments in an interview with The Washington Post represent the first public disclosure of the dramatically expanded scale of the investigation. 

But investigators say voluminous documentation they have collected, much of it under seal and not available to the public, shows the industry to be riddled with price-fixing schemes. The plaintiffs now include 47 states. The investigators expect to unveil new details and add more defendants in coming months, which will put more pressure on executives to consider settlements.

DYI:  If anyone thinks this is only the generic drug companies pulling all of this CRIMINAL behavior then think again and think damn hard.  This has been going on for over 30 to even possibly 40 years plus.  Ramping up medical cost from the 1960’s at around 5% of GDP and fast forward to now at a staggering 21%!

So far the Fed’s could care less but they should as Medicare alone spends yearly either directly or indirectly 1.5 trillion!  All told the total spent by our citizens either through private insurance and out of pocket expenses are around 3.5 trillion per year which is double among developed countries.

Settlements???   

If Connecticut or any other State will only press for monetary settlements and not charge these criminals and for once throw them into the slammer why shouldn’t they continue to break the law?  Guess what; they will, if it isn’t the same executive it will be the new one.  Start putting these guys and some are women as well into a real prison for 5 years plus these shenanigans will end faster than a New York minute.  Health care would then drop – depending on severity of illness – 65% to 90%!  That’s not a typo!

 DYI