By Mike Scarcella

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Generic drugmakers Apotex and Heritage Pharmaceuticals have agreed to pay nearly $50 million to settle claims by Connecticut and other states that accused them of conspiring to artificially inflate prices.

Heritage, a subsidiary of India’s Emcure Pharmaceuticals, and Apotex said they will cooperate with the states in continuing litigation against dozens of other drugmakers accused of participating in the price-fixing scheme.

Connecticut’s attorney general’s office, which is leading the probe, said it would ask a federal court in Hartford to approve the two deals. Heritage said it will pay $10 million and Apotex will pay $39.1 million.

Representatives from Apotex and Emcure did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said “brazen” drug pricing agreements involving Heritage and Apotex “cost American families and our public healthcare programs millions of dollars.”

Connecticut said consumers who purchased certain generic drugs in the United States between January 2010 and December 2018 could be eligible for compensation.

The Heritage and Apotex settlements are part of multidistrict litigation that began in 2016 and now includes three related lawsuits by U.S. states related to dozens of generic drugs.

The states alleged Heritage was a leading drugmaker in the market for Leflunomide, which is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Apotex and Teva were Heritage’s main competitors, according to the states’ lawsuit.

The states, citing phone records and other evidence, said generic drugmakers that participated in the scheme "unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion."

The first trial in the multidistrict litigation is likely in 2026, according to Connecticut, and includes 26 corporate defendants.

The defendants in that case include Teva, Pfizer and Sun Pharmaceuticals. They have denied the claims. Representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Teva and others are fighting related price-fixing antitrust claims from drug distributors, including Rochester Drug Cooperative, and other plaintiffs in federal court in Pennsylvania.

In that litigation, Apotex agreed to pay $30 million to settle claims from direct purchasers, and Heritage said it will pay $10 million.

Heritage

agreed in 2019 to pay

more than $7 million to resolve U.S. claims that it schemed to fix prices for several drugs including glyburide, which treats diabetes.

Read more:

Pharma companies lose fight over venue for states’ price-fixing lawsuits

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)

((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))