Second Circuit hears Actavis anti-competition case

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has heard arguments surrounding whether Actavis should be allowed to discontinue its first Alzheimer’s drug Namenda (memantine hydrochloride) to make way for an extended release version of the medicine.

Last February, Forest Laboratories, now part of Actavis, announced it would take its twice daily instant release version of Namenda off the market the following August.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an anti-competition lawsuit against Actavis that September at the US District Court for the Southern District of California, accusing it of stifling generic competition.

In December, the court ordered Actavis to keep the drug on the market.

The patent covering the older instant release formulation of Namenda expired last week. The extended release version of the drug, Namenda XR, is taken once daily and is patent protected until at least 2025.

Schneiderman had claimed Actavis was trying to “force” Namenda patients to switch to the new formulation of the drug.

According to the lawsuit, Actavis wants Namenda patients to switch to the new formulation because if they were to stay on the old drug after generic companies enter the market, when they go to pick up their prescriptions the pharmacist will automatically dispense a generic version of the old formulation.

Reuters said a three-judge panel at the second circuit questioned Actavis’s attorneys and Schneiderman.

Lisa Blatt, a lawyer at law firm Arnold & Porter, which represents Actavis, said that the company would lose around $200 million in sales if it could not discontinue the drug, Reuters said.

Representing New York state, Anisha Dasgupta, an attorney for the US Department of Justice, said that Actavis had no business reason to remove the old drug from the market, other than to suppress competition.

Actavis did not respond to LSIPR’s request for comment.