Teva and Glenmark settle price fixing charges with US DoJ

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) yesterday announced deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) resolving criminal antitrust charges against the US subsidiaries of Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) and India’s Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (BSE: 532296).

As part of those agreements, both companies will divest a key business line involved in the misconduct, and as an additional remedial measure, Teva will make a $50 million drug donation to humanitarian organizations. Teva will pay a $225 million criminal penalty - the largest to date for a domestic antitrust cartel - and Glenmark will pay a $30 million criminal penalty. Both companies will face prosecution if they violate the terms of the agreements, and if convicted, would likely face mandatory debarment from federal health care programs.

The agreements each require the companies to undertake remedial measures, including the timely divestiture of their respective drug lines for pravastatin, a widely used cholesterol medicine that was a core part of the companies’ price-fixing conspiracy.