Pfizer Inc. (PFE) on Thursday was sued by five U.S. retailers, which accused the pharmaceutical company of conspiring to delay sales of generic versions of Lipitor, Reuters reported Thursday on its website.
India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (500359.BY) also was named as defendant in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Trenton, N.J.
Walgreen Co. (WAG), Kroger Co. (KR), Safeway Inc. (SWY), SuperValu Inc. (SVU and HEB Grocery Co., in their suit, maintain that the defendants sought to keep a generic version of the drug off the market 20 months past the expiration of the original patent.
"Because of defendants' scheme to delay and suppress generic Lipitor competition, in whole or in part, plaintiffs have paid hundreds of millions of dollars more for atorvastatin calcium than they would have paid," the plaintiffs said in their complaint, which seeks triple damages and other remedies.
Pfizer spokesman Christopher Loder told Reuters that the company is "confident that Pfizer's procurement and enforcement of its Lipitor patents was at all times proper and lawful."
Ranbaxy did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.
Full story at: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/05/pfizer-walgreen-lipitor-lawsuit-idINL2E8I5F3A20120705
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 06, 2012 08:39 ET (12:39 GMT)
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