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The United Food & Commercial Workers has filed an antitrust class action lawsuit against Medicis Pharmaceutical Group in Pennsylvania state court, accusing the company of banding together with other drug makers to prevent a generic version of the acne medication Solodyn from entering the market.
According to the generic Solodyn class action lawsuit, Medicis claimed that it was entitled to have the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) delay the approval of generic versions of the drug and entered into illegal deals with its competitors to keep them from selling generic Solodyn on the market.
In addition to Medicis, the antitrust class action lawsuit lists 13 other pharmaceutical companies as defendants.
Solodyn (minocycline hydrochloride) is an oral antibiotic used to treat severe acne in patients aged 12 and older. According to the Solodyn website, www.solodyn.com, the drug is the most commonly prescribed medication in the field of dermatology.
The plaintiffs accuse Medicis of creating a “multifaceted scheme … to improperly restrain trade, and maintain, extend and abuse Medicis’ monopoly power in the market for minocycline hydrochloride extended release tablets to the detriment of plaintiff and end-payor purchasers” the plaintiffs seek to represent in the class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs allege that Medicis improperly listed a patent it held in the FDA’s Orange Book so that they could launch infringement lawsuits against competitors. They argue that U.S. Patent Number 5,902,838 did not belong in the Orange Book. Further, they argue the patent is invalid because it was based on prior art that had not been disclosed to the examiners.
The generic Solodyn class action lawsuit alleges that Medicis attempted to introduce new, slightly different versions of Solodyn in 2011 in an attempt to prevent pharmacists from prescribing generic versions of the drug in the future. The plaintiffs claim that only Medicis benefitted from this practice. Because these new dosages would not match any of the new generic drugs, “pharmacists could not legally substitute less-expensive generic Solodyn in one of the legacy strengths when presented with a prescription for Solodyn in one of the new strengths,” the class action lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs allege they paid artificially higher prices for Solodyn while the conspiring drug companies enjoyed significant profits. According to the class action lawsuit, generic versions of Solodyn could have been available by December 2008. The plaintiffs claim that Solodyn sales have ballooned from $247 million in 2007 to $761 million in 2011.
The plaintiffs are represented by Natalie Bennett of Shepherd Finkelman Miller & Shah LLC.
The Solodyn Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1776 et al. v. Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. et al., Case No. 2:13-cv-04235, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
UPDATE: The JPML has consolidated 12 Solodyn antitrust class action lawsuits into multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on Feb. 25, 2014. The new Solodyn MDL is called In Re Solodyn (Minocycline Hydrochloride) Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 1:14-md-02503.
UPDATE 2: On March 26, 2018, several pharmacies have reached a settlement with Impax Laboratories Inc. in a class action lawsuit accusing Impax of agreeing to delay the release of a generic version of an acne medication called Solodyn (minocycline hydrochloride). Trial for the Solodyn class action lawsuit is continuing into the third week.
UPDATE 3: April 2018, the Solodyn generic pay-for-delay class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.
UPDATE 4: On Jan. 6, 2020, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks worth as much as $1,575.64 from the Solodyn generic delay class action settlement. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
