Attorneys general from nearly all U.S. states, Washington, DC, and several territories filed a lawsuit this week, alleging more than two dozen drug companies and executives have been engaging in price-fixing for generic drugs.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Connecticut, named 26 companies and subsidiaries as well as 10 former or current executives as defendants. The lawsuit filed this week was the third since 2016 stemming from a wide-ranging investigation.
"We're taking on what we believe to be the largest corporate cartel in history, " Connecticut Attorney General William Tong told Cheddar.
"This is part of a huge multi-state effort, 51 states and territories taking on the generic drug industry for price-fixing, for illegally dividing market shares in violation of our state and federal antitrust laws," he said.
About 90 percent of all prescriptions filled in the United States are for generic drugs, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Generics are supposed to be the cheaper option because the industry is set up to encourage competition among manufacturers in order to drive prices down. Instead, prices have skyrocketed, sometimes by as much as 4,000 percent according to Tong, bringing in more than $100 billion a year for the industry.
The situation is "really scary, and frankly it touches almost every consumer," he said while adding, "Nobody is immune from this, and it's a huge fraud on the American people — in all corners of this industry they're stealing billions upon billions of dollars from all of us and our families."
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
