Prescription Eye Drop Class Action Lawsuit

Four consumers have filed a federal class action lawsuit against a dozen pharmaceutical companies they claim engaged in a deceptive scheme to make more money off prescription eye drops by having the bottles dispense more liquid than necessary. They are seeking more than $5 million in damages from the defendants, which include Allergan, Alcon Laboratories, Bausch and Lomb, Pfizer, Prasco and Merck & Co.

Plaintiffs Charlene Eike, Shirley Fisher, Jordan Pitler and Alan Raymond allege in the prescription eye drop class action lawsuit that the companies “separately engaged in an unfair and unscrupulous scheme.… to increase its profits by selling prescription eye drops in a form that compels consumers to buy and spend money for expensive medication that inherently goes to waste.”

The class action lawsuit cites scientific studies and medical journal articles – including some funded by a few of the defendants – that say there is no reason prescription eye drops should be larger than 15 uL (microliters). The defendants’ eye drop products dispense drops two to three times that size.

According to the studies, the recommended prescription eye drop size should be between 5 and 15 uL. Reducing eye drop size does not make the product less effective, but would simply reduce waste and the amount of money consumers pay for the product, according to the eye drop class action lawsuit.

“Defendants, which rank among the most medically and scientifically sophisticated companies in the world, know full well that the basis of this lawsuit is true and well-founded,” the eye drop class action lawsuit states. “Yet, defendants have persisted in their unlawful, unfair and unethical practices of selling the medicine in dispensers that emit much larger drops.”

As an example, the class action lawsuit mentions a 2008 study on glaucoma medications that found the average drop size of Allergan’s glaucoma drug, Alphagan, was 43 uL for a $90 bottle that held about 5.17 milliliters of the medication. If a glaucoma patient used the recommended dose of one drop in each eye three times a day, the bottle would only last 20 days and end up costing the patient about $1,600 a year on glaucoma eye drops.

Approximately 65% of the medication would be wasted, the eye drop class action lawsuit says, with the wasted medication costing the patient approximately $1,067 a year.

The plaintiffs are seeking $5 million in damages for nine proposed classes, based on where consumers reside. It is alleging violations of Illinois’ Consumer Fraud Act and Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act.

The Prescription Eye Drop Class Action Lawsuit case is Charlene Eike, et al. v. Allergan, Inc., et al., Case No. 12-cv-1141, Illinois Southern District Court, East St. Louis.

UPDATE: On July 25, 2016, the lawsuit against eye drop medication manufacturers Allergan, Alcon, and Bausch & Lomb, Pfizer, Merck, and Prasco won class certification and can proceed.

UPDATE 2: On April 19, 2017 the Court of Appeals vacated class certification and dismissed the case in favor of the defendants.