Sandoz to Pay $479 Million in Generic Drug Price-Fixing Litigation

Sandoz has reached agreements totaling about $479 million to resolve most of its remaining exposure in long-running U.S. litigation alleging anticompetitive pricing practices in the generic drug market, while continuing to deny any wrongdoing.

The company says its U.S. subsidiary has agreed to pay $400 million over seven years, beginning in 2027, to settle claims brought by a coalition of 43 U.S. states and territories. Completion of the agreement, which requires approval from all participating jurisdictions, would resolve all remaining claims brought by U.S. federal and state governments related to investigations into alleged generic drug price-fixing. Sandoz said it will also make an additional payment of about $50 million to states that reached earlier settlements, bringing the total governmental settlement amount to roughly $450 million.

Separately, Sandoz reached a $28.5 million agreement with a class of indirect reseller plaintiffs, including retail pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and other entities that purchased generic medicines for resale. The settlement, which remains subject to court approval and allows class members to opt out, would resolve all remaining class-action claims brought by indirect resellers in the multidistrict generic drug antitrust litigation pending in federal court in Pennsylvania.

In 2020, Sandoz agreed to pay a $195 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement as part of the price-fixing investigation. That related to a four-count felony charge was filed 3/2 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, charging Sandoz with participating in four criminal antitrust conspiracies, each with a competing manufacturer of generic drugs and various individuals, according to a Justice Department release.

The Swiss generic drugmaker said neither settlement includes an admission of wrongdoing and that the agreements will have no impact on its full-year 2026 financial guidance or its mid-term outlook. The company said it has increased previously established legal reserves to cover the settlements. The only remaining U.S. antitrust cases involve individual plaintiffs that opted out of the class settlements, and Sandoz said it will continue to defend those claims vigorously.