AbbVie Contends With New Generic AndroGel Pay-for-Delay Litigation

AbbVie has been sued over an alleged pay-for-delay scheme involving its blockbuster testosterone drug AndroGel, two days after a federal court in Pennsylvania dismissed some claims in a similar suit filed last year by the Federal Trade Commission.

The latest case, Giant Eagle, Inc. v Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al, accuses AbbVie of striking anticompetitive deals with Actavis, Par and Perrigo that allowed them to share in millions of dollars of monopoly profits in exchange for abandoning their patent challenges and delaying the launch of low-cost generic versions of AndroGel (testosterone) for nine years.

The alleged deals extended AbbVie’s monopoly on the sale of the product until 2015, denying Pennsylvania retailer Giant Eagle access to lower-cost generic alternatives, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The lawsuit, filed May 8, comes on the heels of a decision in the eastern Pennsylvania district court tossing out claims that Teva violated antitrust law when it entered into an agreement to settle patent infringement litigation involving the Israeli firm’s generic AndroGel. The FTC brought the lawsuit against AbbVie and its partner BesinsHealthcare, along with generics maker Teva, over an alleged pay-for-delay scheme involving AndroGel last September.

AbbVie spokeswoman Libby Holman says the company does not comment on pending litigation. — Jonathon Shacat