BRIEF—AbbVie ordered to pay monetary relief of $448 million in AndroGel antitrust case

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in the case between the Federal Trade Commission and drugmaker (FTC) AbbVie, has ruled that AbbVie used sham litigation to illegally maintain its monopoly over the testosterone replacement drug AndroGel, and ordered $448 million in monetary relief to consumers who were overcharged for Androgel as a result of AbbVie’s conduct.

This court order represents the largest monetary award ever in a litigated FTC antitrust case.

“This decision is a double victory, both for patients who rely on AndroGel and for competition more broadly. It sends a clear signal that pharmaceutical companies can’t use baseless litigation to forestall competition from low-cost generics,” said FTC chairman Joe Simons.

The FTC filed a complaint in federal district court in 2014 charging that AbbVie and its partner Besins Healthcare illegally blocking American consumers’ access to lower-cost alternatives to AndroGel by filing baseless patent infringement lawsuits against potential generic competitors.