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US: California Supreme Court revives generic Cipro antitrust suit

By  |  May 7, 2015

The California Supreme Court on Thursday revived a class-action lawsuit that accuses Bayer of paying another drug company to delay introducing a generic version of a Bayer antibiotic.

The practice is known as “pay to delay” and can violate antitrust law, according to a 2013 US Supreme Court decision.

The unanimous ruling by the state’s highest court was aimed at a settlement reached by Bayer, the holder of a patent on Cipro, and Barr Laboratories Inc., which wanted to introduce a generic version of the popular antibiotic and challenged Bayer’s patent.

Under the settlement, Bayer agreed to pay Barr $398.1 million, and Barr agreed to postpone the marketing of its generic.

The settlement sparked several antitrust lawsuits, including nine class-action suits filed by California consumers.

 

Full content: Reuters

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