Washington, D.C. — In response to news that the Department of Justice Antitrust Division has fined Teva Pharmaceuticals and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals $255 million and ordered them to divest their generic versions of cholesterol drug pravastatin to resolve criminal charges of price fixing, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The Department of Justice Antitrust Division today broke up a Too Big to Fail pharmaceutical firm,” said Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Teva Pharmaceuticals and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals unlawfully banded together to increase prices for a widely-used drug that lowers cholesterol and stops heart attacks and strokes. The Antitrust Division’s actions put an end to that conspiracy, forcing Teva and Glenmark to pay over a quarter of a billion dollars and ensuring they can no longer control access to this vital medication.”

“When a firm is criminally convicted, it is barred from participating in U.S. federal health care programs,” Stoller added. “Teva Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest generic pharmaceutical firms in the world, so barring it from much of the health care industry would be dangerous. The right response is to shrink the firm and force it to disgorge illicit profits, which is what the Antitrust Division did.”

In 2020, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division sued Teva Pharmaceuticals for conspiring to suppress competition by agreeing to fix prices, allocate customers, and rig bids for generic drugs. As part of today’s agreement, Teva will be forced to pay a $225 million criminal penalty — the largest ever for a domestic antitrust cartel — while Glenmark Pharmaceuticals will pay a $30 million criminal penalty. Both firms will also be required to divest the business lines that make the widely-used drug, pravastatin.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.