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."
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
The two-sentence footnote raised serious concerns about accuracy and credibility.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
