RALEIGH, NC — North Carolinians who overpaid for certain generic medications may now be eligible for restitution, following a court’s preliminary approval of a multistate plan to return money to affected consumers.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced that North Carolina is part of a 47‑state and territory coalition preparing to distribute $96.5 million secured through a series of settlements with drug manufacturers accused of conspiring to raise prices. The settlements stem from long‑running antitrust investigations that uncovered what officials describe as a widespread culture of collusion inside the generic drug industry.
Consumers who purchased specific generic drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 may qualify for compensation. Eligibility can be checked through the claims administrator by phone, email, or at AGGenericDrugs.com, where claims may also be submitted.
“North Carolinians are getting money back to make up for unfairly high drug costs they paid in the past,” Jackson said. “We’re always going to hold companies accountable when they break the law and rig the system so they can charge people more.”
The settlements involve Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage, and Heritage’s parent company, Emcure. They arise from four major complaints filed over several years. The first targeted Heritage and 17 other companies over pricing on 15 generic drugs. A second complaint, filed in 2019, accused Teva Pharmaceuticals and 21 additional manufacturers of orchestrating price‑fixing schemes and named 16 senior executives.
A third complaint, the first scheduled for trial focuses on 80 topical generic drugs that account for billions of dollars in U.S. sales and names 26 companies and 10 individuals. Earlier this year, the states filed a fourth complaint alleging Novartis AG, Sandoz Group AG, and Sandoz AG are liable for Sandoz’s conduct and for fraudulently transferring assets.
Investigators say the complaints outline a network of industry executives who routinely communicated at dinners, cocktail events, golf outings, and informal gatherings. According to the filings, participants used phrases like “fair share,” “playing nice in the sandbox,” and “responsible competitor” as coded language to discourage competition and maintain inflated prices.
North Carolina joins a broad coalition of states and territories participating in the distribution plan, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, the Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
© 2026 CoastalCarolinaNews.com – All rights reserved.
Be the first to comment