DES MOINES—Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird today announced two settlements with generic prescription drug manufacturers Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex for teaming up to raise prices and limit competition.

The combined settlements total $49.1 million. The settlements resolve allegations that Heritage and Apotex partnered with a network of generic prescription drug companies to make medications more expensive for families and reduce options by limiting competition.

“Families should be able to buy the medications they need at a fair price,” said Attorney General Bird. “But instead, bad actors have illegally forced them to pay more to treat allergic reactions, bacterial infections, hormone imbalances—even to reduce pain. I will continue working to prevent Iowans from illegal rip-offs.”

Evidence of the schemes to inflate prices were obtained through investigations, witnesses, document databases, and phone records databases of more than 600 members of the generics industry. These investigations uncovered that company executives formed a network that made plans at industry dinners, “girls nights out,” golf outings, and cocktail parties. They also communicated through frequent phone calls, texts, and emails.

The $10 million settlement with Heritage was filed on October 31. A settlement will soon be filed with Apotex for $39.1 million. As part of the settlements, both companies have agreed to cooperate in ongoing multistate litigations against other drug manufacturers, corporate defendants, and executives. The companies have also agreed to make changes to ensure fair competition and that they are following antitrust laws.

Iowans who purchased a generic prescription drug manufactured by Heritage or Apotex between 2010 and 2018 may be eligible for compensation. To determine eligibility, call 1-866-290-0182, email info@AGGenericDrugs.com, or visit www.AGGenericDrugs.com.

Iowa joined the Connecticut-led coalition, along with 44 other states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. They were also joined by the District of Columbia, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Read the settlement agreement with Heritage Pharmaceuticals here.

DES MOINES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provides a weather summary each week during this time.

“After a long stretch of dry conditions that allowed harvest to proceed without much interruption, measurable rainfall finally arrived last week and stayed through the weekend in much of the state. For Iowa farmers still finishing harvest and other field work, the moisture may temporarily delay progress. However, it will also provide the added benefits of reducing dust, decreasing fire risk and helping to replenish our dry soils, waterways and pastures,” said Secretary Naig. “For the many farmers who have seeded cover crops or are planning to do so, the rain also provided a much needed boost toward getting them established. As we look ahead to the next two weeks, outlooks continue to show better chances of warmer temperatures and more rain.”

The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at nass.usda.gov.

Crop Report

Much needed rain across the State meant Iowa farmers had just 4.7 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending November 3, 2024, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Field activities included harvesting corn and soybeans, completing fall tillage, and applying fall fertilizer and manure.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 21 percent very short, 38 percent short, 39 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 27 percent very short, 42 percent short, 31 percent adequate and 0 percent surplus.

Harvest of the corn for grain crop reached 92 percent statewide, 6 days ahead of last year and 2 weeks ahead of the five-year average. Moisture content of field corn harvested for grain remained steady at 14 percent.

Livestock producers reported weaning calves and sending some to local sale barns. Many feedlots went from dry and dusty to muddy with the rain received during the week.

By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

State climatologist Justin Glisan says the rain across the state this week helped bump the month of October down the dry weather record book.

“Up through the 29th we were about in the top five driest Octobers with 152 years of records,” he says. “And this would be the continuation that we saw in September, the driest September on record.” He says much of the state got some rainfall to impact the average for October, which still ended up below normal. “We were just under two inches. And again, most of that fell on the 29th through the 30th,” Glisan says, “and that’s about eight tenths of an inch below average for the state. Driest conditions that we saw across the state were in the northwest corner, anywhere from an inch to two inches below average.” The storms that brought the late October rain also brought in some cold weather — including some snowflakes in northern Iowa.

Glisan says the lack of moisture impacted overall temperatures. “Almost six degrees above average. So this is near the top 20th warmest Octobers is on record. The difference that we see in the temperature is that with this dry air that we saw for much of the month, very low dew points. So we warmed up during the day, but we also cooled off appreciably at night. We were near or below average on a lot of the nights across the state,” Glisan says.

Glisan says the early indicators for November are showing the potential for above average temperatures, with a potential for more precipitation.