AG Petro Wins Antritrust Settlement Against GlaxoSmithKline

Attorney General Jim Petro announced yesterday the recovery of more than $800,000 on behalf of four state agencies - Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Department of Mental Health, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and The Ohio State University Medical Center - resulting from a multi-million-dollar antitrust settlement with prescription drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. The drug company was accused of overcharging customers for Augmentin (a popular antibiotic) and Paxil (commonly used to treat depression) and intentionally preventing generics from entering the market. “We will continue to send a strong message to the pharmaceutical industry that Ohio will not tolerate anti-competitive practices in the marketplace,” Petro said, “Especially when it involves the misuse of public dollars.”  Petro also said that the overcharges recovered in this settlement occurred when Ohio agencies and the OSU Medical Center purchased these two drugs at unlawfully inflated prices. Petro and the other state attorneys general participating in this multistate investigation alleged that GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of both Augmentin and Paxil, took intentional actions to prevent the less-costly generic versions of these drugs from entering the market, therefore maintaining an illegal monopoly for each drug.