Pay-For-Delay Pharmaceutical Litigation

In recent years, increasing scrutiny has been given to the practice of pharmaceutical manufacturers seeking to suppress the introduction of less expensive generic drugs into the market by artificial and potentially illegal means.  In some instances, the manufacturers of brand-name drugs will enter into anti-competitive  agreements with generic drug manufacturers pursuant to which the generic drugs will be withheld from the market for a predetermined amount of time.  Employing another tactic, the brand-name manufacturer may engage in sham patent litigation against generic manufacturers which may result in the generic versions being held off the market for years.

The bottom-line result of these “pay-for-delay” ploys is that consumers, as well as larger health and welfare-related funds, end up spending far more for pharmaceuticals than they otherwise would have had the market not been illegally deprived of generic versions of purchased medication.

In the last few years, the FDA and several watchdog agencies have begun to bring the issue of pay-for-delay schemes by pharmaceutical manufacturers to the attention of the general public and courts around the country.  Several lawsuits have been brought against manufacturers of well-known brand-name drugs including:

• • Adderall (Attention Deficit Disorder)
  • BuSpar (Anxiety)
  • Cipro (Bacterial infection)
  • Effexor (Depression)
  • Lipitor (Depression)
  • Nexium (Digestive Disorders)
  • Propecia (Male Pattern Baldness)
  • Wellbutrin (Depression)
  • Zantac (Digestive Disorders)

Audet and Partners, LLP has been a leader in pursuing Pay-For-Delay claims against brand-name drug manufacturers.  If you are an end payor of pharmaceuticals ( e.g., a health and/or welfare benefits fund) and suspect that your cost of obtaining certain pharmaceuticals for your members  has remained exorbitantly expensive, please contact a Pay-For-Delay lawyer at Audet and Partners, LLP by calling (800) 965-1461, or by completing and submitting our confidential inquiry form on the rights side of this page.