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AbbVie, the manufacturers of a testosterone-replacement medication called AndroGel now have more to worry about than the thousands of lawsuits pending against them in multidistrict litigation. Patients who have taken the drug claim that they have suffered from heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots in the lungs. They further claim that AbbVie marketed the drug for a “made up” condition called “Low-T” or low testosterone, and the men were merely suffering from an effect of aging.
Now, the manufacturer is facing an antitrust verdict of $448 million claiming that they have blocked generic versions of their medication with “baseless” patent lawsuits. Fierce Pharma reports on the story.
U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle ordered AbbVie and partner Besins Healthcare to pay $448 million. The judgment came after finding that competitor Perrin would have introduced a generic equivalent medication in June of 2013, had AbbVie not filed a “sham” patent lawsuit.
The Federal Trade Commission filed the lawsuit against AbbVie in 2014. The FTC claimed that in addition to the sham lawsuits against Perrin, they also filed sham lawsuits against Teva and entered into an illegal “pay-for-delay” deal with Teva.
A court ruled last year that the lawsuits AbbVie filed against Perrin and Teva were baseless.
However, the judge stopped short of entering an injunction against AbbVie.
In the civil litigation claims, AbbVie has had mixed results. One jury ordered the company to pay $150 million, a verdict that was later overturned. During the retrial, the jury ordered the company to pay $3 million.
In other lawsuits, the company has had one victory and one loss.
A spokesperson for AbbVie says that they acted lawfully and plan to appeal the verdict against them for the FTC.
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