BATON ROUGE, La. (Legal Newsline) – The State of Louisiana has filed suit against a drug supplier over allegations the company intentionally looked to block less expensive generic versions of one of its drugs.
James “Buddy” Caldwell, attorney general for Louisiana, filed the lawsuit in Louisiana state court on April 10 against Pfizer Inc. for allegedly attempting to block a generic version of its drug Neurontin.
Caldwell
Pfizer and Warner-Lambert Company removed the case to U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana on May 22. The lawsuit claims Pfizer filed bogus patent infringement lawsuits in order to keep the generic drugs off the market.
“The patents protecting (Pfizer’s) Neurontin were weak, invalid and would not be infringed by generic versions of Neurontin,” the lawsuit said. “Instead of conceding the weak state of their patent protection, (Pfizer) filed sham patent litigation against prospective generic entrants designed to delay generic competition.”
The lawsuits filed by Pfizer delayed the approval of the generic drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Caldwell said in his lawsuit.
Caldwell claims Pfizer violated the state’s antitrust and consumer protection laws, and maintained an illegal monopoly on the market for at least 30 months. That required the state to pay “unlawfully inflated prices” for Neurotin.
Caldwell is seeking restitution from Pfizer for the inflated pricing of its drug as well as damages and court costs.
Caldwell hired several private attorneys for the suit. They are:
-E. Wade Shows of Shows, Cali & Wales in Baton Rouge, La.;
-Robert Salim and Barrett Beasley of Salim-Beasley in Natchitoches, La.;
-John Meade of Meade Law in New Orleans;
-Joseph Rice of Motley Rice in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.;
-James Ryan and Pat Morrow of Morrow Morrow Ryan & Bassett in Opelousas, La.;
-Allan Kanner and Conlee Whiteley of Kanner & Whiteley in New Orleans;
-Alejandro Perkins of Hammonds, Sills, Adkins & Guice in Baton Rouge;
-T. Allen Usry of Usry, Weeks & Mathews in New Orleans; and
-Jimmy Faircloth of Faircloth, Melton & Keiser in Alexandria, La.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana case 3:15-cv-00327
