Insurers, pension funds, and Restasis users accusing Allergan of conspiring to delay generic competition for the dry eye drug convinced a Brooklyn federal judge to grant them class action status, reported Bloomberg.
Although the class of “end payer plaintiffs” likely contains some “brand loyalists” who weren’t harmed by the company’s alleged sham litigation scheme, the plaintiffs’ expert adequately demonstrated that the number was “de minimis,” Judge Nina Gershon wrote Tuesday, May 5.
The ruling comes about 10 weeks after Allergan agreed to settle parallel claims by drug distributors for US$51 million.
The sprawling antitrust suit accuses Allergan of “inundating” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with bad faith “citizen petitions” challenging the safety of Restasis generics proposed by other drugmakers. After the FDA rejected the petitions, Allergan allegedly launched bogus lawsuits claiming its would-be competitors infringed patents it had intentionally mischaracterized to regulators.
Full Content: Bloomberg
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