Endo pays $2.3m to settle states antitrust claims
Ireland-headquartered Endo Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $2.3 million to 18 states late last week, settling allegations that the drugmaker paid a competitor to keep a generic version of pain relief drug Lidoderm (Lidocaine patch 5%) off the market.
Endo reached the settlement agreement with the states on Friday, July 19, the same day that the states, including Utah, Florida, Illinois and Washington, filed the antitrust suit at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Utah and the other states had accused Endo of entering into a reverse-payment agreement (a pay-for-delay agreement) with Watson Laboratories to obstruct generic competition to Lidoderm for more than a year.
“At the time of the Lidoderm agreement, Lidoderm was Endo’s most important branded prescription drug product. In 2011, Endo generated more than $825 million from its branded Lidoderm patches, comprising 30% of Endo’s total annual revenues,” said the states.
According to the claim, Endo paid Watson, which is now a Teva subsidiary, to not compete with Endo’s “lucrative” Lidoderm franchise.
“In August 2012, the FDA granted Watson final approval to launch its generic lidocaine patches. But pursuant to the Lidoderm Agreement, Watson did not launch its generic Lidoderm product until more than a year later, in September 2013,” said the suit.
Utah and the other states went on to claim that the agreement harmed the general economy by obstructing generic competition and made consumers pay supra-competitive prices for Lidoderm.
In the separately filed settlement agreement, Endo denied that it engaged in any wrongful or unlawful conduct. Under the settlement, the drugmaker agreed to pay $2.3 million to the states.
The Utah office of the attorney general added that the agreement focused on injunctive relief and preventing future conduct.
Under the injunction, Endo is prohibited from paying or incentivising a generic drug maker to delay entry into the drug market or from researching, developing, manufacturing, marketing or selling any drug product.
“The states will use settlement funds to enforce the injunctive terms and to stop other anticompetitive conduct within the pharmaceutical industry, which has been in the news, in the courts, and before Congress due to concerns over drug prices and repeated antitrust allegations,” said the release from the attorney general’s office.
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