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# Apotex Pays $24 Million in Price Fixing Scheme
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/apotex-pays-24-million-in-price-fixing-scheme/
- Published: 2020-05-08T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:14:14.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5146755

Apotex has agreed to pay a $24.1 million criminal penalty and admit that it conspired with other generic drug sellers to artificially raise the price of pravastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug that lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke. According to the one-count felony charge filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Apotex and other generic drug companies agreed to increase and maintain the price of pravastatin from 5/2013 through 12/2015, according to a Justice Department [release](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/generic-pharmaceutical-company-admits-fixing-price-widely-used-cholesterol-medication?ref=fdaweb.com). The government also announced a deferred prosecution agreement resolving the charge against Apotex, which agreed to cooperate fully with the ongoing criminal investigation.  
  
Apotex is the fourth company to be charged in connection with antitrust violations in the generic pharmaceutical industry. In March, Sandoz agreed to pay a $195 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/sandoz-195-million-fine-in-price-fixing-scheme/)). In 12/2019, Rising Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay over $3 million for conspiring to fix prices for benazepril HCTZ ([see story](https://www.fdaweb.com/rising-pharma-paying-over-3-million-in-price-fixing-charge/)). And in 6/2019 Heritage Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay over $7 million over price fixing related to diabetes drug glyburide ([see story](http://fdaweb.com/login.php?sa=v&aid=D5144244&searchWords=price%20fixing&cate=S&stid=%241%24jA..wo3.%2431RJXQFwfpPbcYnJOczUr1&ref=fdaweb.com)).