Pfizer under fire
July 9, 2012
FIVE pharmacy chains in the US
have launched legal action against
Pfizer over allegations the drug
company employed
anticompetitive tactics to delay the
launch of Lipitor generics for
around 20 months.
Lipitor’s original US compound
patent expired in March 2010,
however the first generics of the
cholesterol-lowering drug did not
hit the US market until November
last year.
Allegations made by the plaintiffs
include claims that Pfizer used “an
overarching anticompetitive
scheme” to delay the generics,
which included defrauding the US
Patent office to obtain a Lipitor
patent, filing a “sham” petition
with the FDA, and entering into an
agreement with Ranbaxy two years
before Lipitor’s patent expiry date,
which stopped the generics
manufacturer from supplying its
Lipitor equivalent until Nov 2011.
These alleged maneuvers,
according to the plaintiffs, forced
retailers to continue buying more
of the Lipitor than they would have
had its generic been available,
costing them hundreds of millions
of dollars .
Pfizer has since defended itself
saying it is confident that its
“procurement and enforcement of
its Lipitor patents were at all times
proper and lawful”.
“The Lipitor patent settlements,
including the settlement with
Ranbaxy, were submitted for
review by the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission and are proper and
lawful in all respects,” the company
added.
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