Pharmavite, which markets Nature Made nutritional supplements, brought federal antitrust claims in Los Angeles against Bausch & Lomb and a GlaxoSmithKline Plc subsidiary, claiming they’re using sham patent litigation to clear the market for the “PreserVision” product line.
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, accuses the Glaxo and Bausch Health subsidiaries of wrongfully asserting their PreserVision patents against Pharmavite, which is owned by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co.—despite the expiration of the main patent’s 20-year enforceability term.
Although another patent is still in effect, it covers only a “narrow method” of administering the supplement, rather than the formulation itself, according to Bloomberg.
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