A fraud conviction and seven-year prison sentence haven’t spared Martin Shkreli from a federal antitrust lawsuit tied to his former company’s infamous drug pricing scandal. Now, the pharmaceutical company formerly known as Turing has agreed to settle for $40 million.

The California Attorney General announced that Vyera Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay up to $40 million as disgorgement of Ill-Gotten Gains, to settle charges that it engaged in anticompetitive practices to ward off generics and maintain “monopoly profits” from its more than 4,000% overnight price hike on the toxoplasmosis med Daraprim..

The agreement also bans the former Vyera CEO Kevin Mulleady from almost any role at a pharmaceutical company for seven years. Meanwhile, the litigation against Shkreli, who was the architect of the illegal scheme, will continue, James’ office said. His antitrust trial is slated to begin Dec. 14.

In January 2020, New York Attorney General James and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Vyera, Shkreli, and Mulleady for antitrust violations that stifled competition and permitted the defendants to protect and maintain their monopoly profits from their more than 4,000 percent overnight increase – to $750 per pill – of the drug Daraprim (pyrimethamine).

Daraprim is the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease which may pose serious and often life-threating consequences for those with compromised immune systems, including babies born to women infected with the disease and individuals with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Daraprim was cheap and accessible for decades, then, in August 2015, Vyera purchased the drug, increased the price, altered its distribution, and engaged in other conduct to delay and impede generic competition.
The high price and distribution changes limited access to the drug, forcing many to make difficult and risky decisions for the treatment of a life-threatening disease.

The illegal scheme perpetrated by Vyera, Shkreli, and Mulleady involved restrictive distribution and supply agreements, as well as data secrecy, with the intent and effect of delaying entry by lower cost generic competitors.

In April 2020, the states of California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia joined Attorney General James’ and the FTC’s lawsuit.

All money deposited in the Settlement Fund shall be used for equitable relief, including consumer redress and other equitable relief that the Plaintiff States determine to be related to the Defendants’ alleged violative practices and injury, any attendant expenses for the administration of such fund, and repayment of out-of-pocket expenses, and to satisfy the amount of any settlement reached in the related case,

Any money remaining in the fund after such distributions shall be deposited by the Plaintiff States as disgorgement to be used consistently with their respective state laws.