FTC sues pharma firms for illegally blocking access to lower-cost AndroGel

In what it says is its latest action to ensure competition in the nation’s health care markets, the US Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in federal district court charging several pharmaceutical companies with illegally blocking American consumers’ access to lower-cost versions of the testosterone replacement drug AndroGel.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and its partner Besins Healthcare filed baseless patent infringement law suits against potential generic competitors to delay the introduction of lower-priced versions of the testosterone replacement drug AndroGel. While the law suits were pending, AbbVie then entered into an anticompetitive “pay-for-delay” settlement agreement with the US subsidiary of Israel-based generics giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) to further delay generic drug competition. The complaint also names AbbVie’s predecessor company, Abbott Laboratories, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Unimed Pharmaceuticals, as defendants in the case.

The Commission's law suit was the first of its kind since a Supreme Court ruling last year boosted FTC efforts to challenge certain agreements between drug makers that can postpone the introduction of generic drugs, noted the Wall Street Journal.