Two large Pharma companies must face antitrust suit over generic delays. Merck and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals are headed for an antitrust trial over claims they used an illegal patent settlement to delay generic versions of cholesterol reducer Zetia, reported Bloomberg.
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Judge Rebecca Beach Smith denied summary judgment to the drugmakers, which have spent years fighting allegations that Merck dropped a patent infringement case against Glenmark and paid it to keep its generic Zetia on the shelves longer.
Drug purchasers filed their original suit in 2018 and amended the case the following year. The plaintiffs allege Merck paid Glenmark around $800 million in an “unlawful reverse-payment” to delay the launch of its Zetia copycat—which was the first generic to hit the market back in Dec. 2016—for nearly five years.
Merck and Glenmark attempted to escape the lawsuit by filing for a court judgment in August 2020.
