Brand-Name Drug Company Allergan Agrees to Pay Record $750M to Settle Antitrust Claims Based on Alleged Hatch-Waxman Abuses
Settlement is largest for a single defendant in an antitrust case involving delayed market entry of generic drugs
NEW YORK – A class of wholesale drug distributors has reached a record $750 million settlement resolving antitrust claims based on anticompetitive conduct related to the Alzheimer’s disease drug Namenda®.
The antitrust settlement is the largest private settlement to date for a single defendant involving abuses of the Hatch-Waxman Act and is one of several patent-related antitrust lawsuits successfully resolved by a legal team that includes Houston-based patent litigation firm Heim, Payne & Chorush, LLP.
The lawsuit alleged that Allergan subsidiary Forest Laboratories abused U.S. patent laws and engaged in an illegal pay-for-delay scheme to induce generic drug company Mylan Laboratories to drop its challenge to Forest’s patent and to delay marketing its generic version of Namenda®. The antitrust plaintiffs asserted that, but for the payment, Forest’s patent likely would have been found invalid and/or not infringed and generic competition would have commenced earlier. The settlement was reached as the trial was set to begin Monday, Oct. 28.
The case is In re Namenda Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, case number 1:15-cv-07488 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York before Chief Judge Colleen McMahon. Allergan, previously known as Actavis PLC, acquired Forest Laboratories in 2014.
Heim, Payne & Chorush has special expertise and experience handling highly-technical reverse-payment antitrust cases involving pharmaceuticals brought under the Sherman Antitrust Act and FTC v. Actavis, Inc., 570 U.S. 136 (2013). Firm co-founder Dr. Russell A. Chorush combines his special skillset in chemistry with extensive patent litigation experience and training to provide expert-level analysis of pharmaceutical patent issues. In addition to Dr. Chorush, the Heim, Payne & Chorush team included firm co-founder Michael Heim and firm partners Eric Enger and Blaine Larson.
Co-counsel in the lawsuit included Garwin Gerstein & Fisher, LLP; Berger Montague, PC; Odom & Des Roches, LLC; Smith, Segura, Raphael and Leger, LLP; and Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP.
Heim, Payne & Chorush LLP represents plaintiffs and defendants in litigation across a broad range of technologies and business sectors. With a wide variety of technical and scientific backgrounds, firm attorneys handle all facets of intellectual property litigation for some of the largest energy and technology firms, as well as individuals and smaller companies. Heim, Payne & Chorush LLP takes pride in its ability to partner with other attorneys and firms to offer the best possible trial team for the benefit of the client. To learn more about the firm and the work it does, visit www.hpcllp.com.