Bayer in settlement over Cipro pricing

A partial settlement has been reached in a US class action law suit involving the prescription antibiotic Cipro (ciprofloxacin), originated by German drug major Bayer (BAYN: DE), it was announced by a group of US law firms acting in the law suit on September 3.

The law suit claims Bayer Corp, Barr Laboratories (now part of Teva), Hoechst Marion Roussel (now part of Sanofi), Watson Pharmaceuticals (now Actavis) and The Rugby Group violated antitrust and consumer protection laws by agreeing not to compete with each other, and by keeping lower-cost generic versions of Cipro off the market. The manufacturers deny these claims.

This settlement is with Bayer Corp only; the case against the other manufacturers continues. Neither the case nor the settlement is about the safety or effectiveness of Cipro.