November 27, 2017
Pfizer Inc. and generic-drug maker Ranbaxy Inc. have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Third Circuit to revive allegations in multidistrict litigation accusing Pfizer of making an illegal reverse payment to keep Ranbaxy’s generic version of cholesterol drug Lipitor off the market, saying antitrust scrutiny isn’t appropriate for “commonplace” and “traditional” settlements such as the one at issue.
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The Lipitor buyers who brought the MDL have alleged that Pfizer kept generic drugmaker Ranbaxy out of the market for Lipitor with an anti-competitive settlement in 2008. Ranbaxy agreed to delay its generic version of Lipitor until 2011 in exchange for Pfizer dropping its litigation over a different drug, Pfizer’s blood pressure medication Accupril, the buyers said.
The buyers alleged the release of the Accupril claims qualifies as a “large” and “unjustified” reverse payment because it allowed Ranbaxy to escape costly litigation while keeping the company out of the generic market, the filing says.
Cohen Milstein is Co-Lead Counsel of a proposed class of indirect purchasers in In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation.
Read Pfizer Wants Justices to Review Lipitor Antitrust Ruling.