The US Department of Justice has charged Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc, USA, for conspiring to fix the prices of generic drugs.

On Tuesday, the charge which was filed in the US District Court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, alleged that Glenmark conspired with other generic drug firms and Apotex Corp to increase and maintain the prices of pravastatin and other generic drugs beginning in or around May 2013 and continuing until at least in or around December 2015.

Pravastatin is a prescription medication that reduces cholesterol and helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The charge alleges that the gain to the conspirators and the loss to the victims was at least $200 million.

“By cheating through fixing prices, generic drug companies artificially raised prices even though prescription drug costs were already sky high,” said assistant attorney-general Makan Delrahim of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.

“As the charge shows, the anti-trust division will not hesitate to charge these companies, and litigate where necessary, particularly where their crimes resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges for life-saving medications,” Delrahim added.

Glenmark has, however, strongly refuted the charges.

“We strongly disagree with the charges being advanced by the Federal government and do not believe the evidence supports the governmen’'s case. These charges run contrary to the very essence of Glenmark - to drive down drug prices and improve patient access to medications. We will continue to vigorously defend against these charges and we are confident the overwhelming evidence will make that clear,” a spokesperson from the company said.

The development led to shares of the pharmaceutical firm slipping over three per cent on the bourses on Wednesday. On the BSE, the scrip settled at Rs 435.20, a drop of 3.33 per cent, or Rs 15 over the last close. During intra-day trade, the counter slipped almost six per cent to a low of Rs 424.

Glenmark is the fifth company to be charged over the last 13 months in connection with anti-trust violations in the generic pharmaceutical industry.

A statement from the Department of Justice said that the previous corporate charges, including the charge against Glenmark’s alleged co-conspirator Apotex, were resolved by deferred prosecution agreement.

Four senior executives have also been charged. Three entered guilty pleas and the fourth is awaiting trial. It added that a criminal information merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.