Four companies pay California $70 million for delaying drugs

Four pharmaceutical companies collectively are agreeing to pay California nearly $70 million to settle allegations that they delayed drugs to keep prices high. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra says the bulk of the money will come from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its affiliates for paying to delay a generic narcolepsy drug, Provigil, from entering the market for nearly six years.

Teva is paying $69 million, which Becerra says is the largest pay-for-delay settlement received by any state.

Such agreements let the developer of brand name drugs keep their monopolies over the drugs after their patents expire, thereby letting them continue to charge consumers higher prices. The drug developer pays the generic manufacturer to keep the cheaper version of the drug from entering the marketplace for an agreed period of time.