Abbott Sued By States For Blocking Generic

The drugmaker was accused in an antitrust lawsuit by 18 states of trying to keep a generic version of its TriCor cholesterol med from becoming available. The states allege in federal court in Wilmington that Abbott, Fournier Industrie et Sante and Laboratories Fournier continuously made minor changes in the TriCor formulation to block cheaper generics. And the suit seeks triple the amount of damages incurred by the state public health agencies and consumers. The pill, by the way, accounted for more than $1 billion in sales last year.

“As Florida and our senior population face ever increasing costs of prescription drugs, we cannot permit drug companies to edge out competition and potentially less expensive generic alternatives,” Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says in a statement. Here is the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges that Abbott and Fournier obtained patents protecting TriCor from competition by deceiving the U.S. Patent Office with incomplete and misleading data. Abbott and Fournier then brought more than 10 ‘groundless’ patent infringement lawsuits against the generic companies between 2000 and 2004 to prevent them from obtaining FDA approval to market their generic versions of Tricor, according to Maryland’s attorney general, Doug Gansler. Abbott and Fournier eventually lost or dismissed all of the lawsuits.

Abbott spokeswoman Melissa Brotz tells the Associated Press that its actions are lawful, and Abbott hasn’t prevented the marketing of drugs similar to TriCor, adding there are eight other products already available. Neil Hirsch, a spokesman for Solvay, the parent company of Fournier Industrie et Sante and Laboratories Fournier SA, tells the AP Fournier hasn’t engaged in any wrongdoing and intends to vigorously defend itself against the allegations.

Besides Maryland and Florida, other states joining the suit are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia.