The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice brought charges against Jeffrey Glazer and Jason Malek, the former CEO and president of Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc., respectively.

The two are charged with conspiracy to fix prices and allocate customers for an antibiotic and glyburide, a treatment for diabetes.

Deputy assistant attorney general Brent Snyder of the Justice Department's antitrust division said, "By entering into unlawful agreements to fix prices and allocate customers, these two executives sought to enrich themselves at the expense of sick and vulnerable individuals who rely upon access to generic pharmaceuticals as a more affordable alternative to brand-name medicines."

Australian company Mayne Pharma Group Ltd. confirmed in a Dec. 16 statement that it received a subpoena from the antitrust division that requested disclosure of issues relating to the marketing, pricing and sales of doxycycline hyclate delayed-release tablets and potassium chloride powders.

Concurrently, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut along with 19 other states jointly filed charges against multiple generic drugmakers. One of the named defendants, Citron Pharma LLC, on Nov. 2 entered into a definitive agreement with Aceto Corp. in which the healthcare distributor agreed to acquire certain generic products and related assets from Citron.

Aceto released a statement clarifying that Citron had disclosed that the company and certain of its employees received grand jury subpoenas from the DOJ relating to the marketing, pricing and sale of four products prior to the signing of the agreement, and Aceto structured the agreement where the company is indemnified against any liabilities, if any, associated with the DOJ matter and the states' civil suit.