The Feds are about to nail a bunch of drug companies for price fixing

Federal prosecutors may bring charges of price collusion against a group of generic drugmakers before the end of the year, Bloomberg reports.

The Department of Justice started this investigation two years ago, and it includes over a dozen drug companies - like Mylan, Lannett, and Teva to name a few - and dozens of drugs. Charges could come down as early as December, Bloomberg's David McLaughlin and Caroline Chen are reporting.

A bunch of the stocks involved with the investigation are falling on this news. Here's a quick sampling:

• Mylan is down 5%.
• Lannet is down 18%.
• Teva is down over 6%.
• Actavis is down about 3%
• Impax Laboratories is down 12%

Covis Pharma Holdings Sarl, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Mayne Pharma Group Ltd., Endo International Plc's subsidiary Par Pharmaceutical Holdings and Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. also received subpoenas in connection to this investigation.

Generic drugs are supposed to keep healthcare costs down. But the government may be about to allege that these companies worked together to keep prices higher instead of allowing market competition to set pricing.

Charges of price collusion within the industry are not unheard of. In fact, Lannett, Mylan, Impax and Par are all involved in a separate alleged price collusion class action suit over the price of digoxin, a heart drug, and doxycycline, an antibiotic. That suit was filed in April, and Allergan and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals are also involved in that suit.