Case Overview
This case concerns Teva’s lengthy campaign to induce health plans in the United States to pay billions in excess for its multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone (glatiramer acetate). Because there is no cure for MS, Copaxone, a disease-modifying drug therapy, is used to treat the symptoms of the relapsing forms of MS for years, if not a patient’s lifetime.
Although Teva did not originally develop glatiramer acetate, it has licensed the rights to the drug since 1987 and has held all patents on the drug. In 1997, Teva began selling glatiramer acetate under the brand name Copaxone. In 2000, Teva began implementing an aggressive price increasing strategy that saw Teva increase the price of Copaxone 27 times by the time it reached a monthly cost of $5,832 in 2017.
Plaintiffs allege Teva used myriad unfair and deceptive practices to manipulate the individuals and entities that selected MS treatments for health plan beneficiaries, in violation of Washington consumer protection law and RICO. This scheme had multiple components that manipulated the prescribing decisions of doctors, the product selection decisions of pharmacists, the drug prioritization decisions of pharmacy benefit managers, and the purchasing decisions of health plan members. The result was that health plan payors expended billions on Copaxone despite the availability of lower cost alternative treatments, including generics.
Plaintiffs bring these claims on behalf of a proposed nationwide class defined at this time as:
All entities in the United States and its territories that are at risk, pursuant to a contract, policy, or plan, to pay or reimburse all or part of the cost of prescription drugs prescribed to natural persons covered by such contract, policy, or plan (“plan members”), and who paid and/or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price for at any time from 2006 until the effects of Defendants’ unlawful conduct cease.
No class has yet been certified by the Court.
Case Status
On April 8, 2021, Keller Rohrback filed a class action complaint on behalf of King County and the City of Tacoma against several Teva entities in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. King County and the City of Tacoma filed an Amended Complaint on September 28, 2021.
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint was fully briefed as of February 17, 2022, was argued on March 9, 2023 and awaits the Court's decision.
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