Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) will pay $1.2 billion in the settlement of a lawsuit alleging that it acted illegally in seeking to prevent the marketing of a generic drug in competition with the Provigil drug marketed by Teva's Cephalon subsidiary, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported today.
Pharmaceutical retailers and wholesalers filed suit against Teva and Cephalon in 2006, alleging that Cephalon, acquired by Teva in 2011, had reached a compromise with Teva and major companies Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy stipulating that Ranbaxy would not market the generic versions of Provigil until at least 2012. The lawsuit alleged that this compromise violated US antitrust US law.
The amount that Teva will pay is the most paid to settle a civil suit against companies taking action to postpone the marketing of generic drugs. According to the FTC, the fine is designed to compensate the insurance companies, pharmacies, and various retailers, among others, who had to pay more for an original drug because of Teva's actions.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 28, 2015
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