Shire filed an antitrust suit against Allergan, alleging Allergan’s contracts with Medicare Part D drug plans for its Restasis eye drops effectively blocked access to Shire’s rival drug.
The complaint, filed Monday, October 2, in federal court in Trenton, NJ, says Shire offered steep discounts in bids to secure insurance coverage of the company’s dry-eye drug Xiidra but the Part D plans refused, due to Allergan’s “bundled discounts, exclusive dealing” and other tactics.
“There was not a level playing field for us to compete” in Part D, John Neeley, Shire’s head of US pricing and market access, said in an interview. Some 13% of Part D patients have access to Xiidra on their drug formularies, compared with about 88% of commercially insured patients, a Shire spokeswoman says.
The lawsuit is the second in the past few weeks to take aim at the closely guarded contracts between drugmakers and health insurers and pharmacy-benefit managers that play an important but hidden role determining which drugs patients can get and will sell well.
Allergan and Shire are headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, although Allergan has operations in Parsippany, New Jersey, and Shire in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Shire won US Food and Drug Administration approval in July 2016 for Xiidra, the first dry eye disease drug to win FDA approval since Restasis in 2002.
Full Content: Nasdaq
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Turkey Fines Meta $10.4 Million for Abusing Market Dominance
May 6, 2024 by
CPI
Canadian Watchdog Launches Inquiry into Lululemon’s Greenwashing Practices
May 6, 2024 by
CPI
Massachusetts Supreme Court Deliberates Ballot Redefining Gig Worker Status
May 6, 2024 by
CPI
European Commission Approves Nippon Steel’s $14.9 Billion Buyout of U.S. Steel
May 6, 2024 by
CPI
Banco Sabadell Rejects Rival BBVA Merger Proposal
May 6, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI