Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Pharmaceutical companies delayed entry of generic enoxaparin, complaint alleges, (Sep 18, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have conspired to restraint trade and monopolize the market for generic enoxaparin, an anticoagulant drug used to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis and myocardial infarction, according to a complaint filed in the federal district court in the Central District of California (Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., September 17, 2015).

Momenta holds the patent for the brand name enoxaparin drug Lovenox®, which became a commercial success, generating billions in revenue in the United States. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty and generic pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and markets technically complex proprietary and generic drug products and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Amphastar and its wholly-owned subsidiary, International Medication Systems, Ltd., have filed suit against Momenta and Sandoz, claiming that the defendants have entered into a profit-sharing contractual relationship, including an exclusive license of the patent for enoxaparin. The agreement, according to Amphastar, heavily incentivized the defendants to obtain and maintain themselves as the sole source of generic enoxaparin in the United States, including milestone payments and a profit sharing arrangement.

Specifically, Amphastar claims that the defendants conspired to restrain trade by wrongfully enforcing their patent to prevent Amphastar from bringing its own generic enoxaparin product to the market, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. As a result, the defendants kept the price of enoxaparin unreasonably high and caused the general consuming public to pay significantly higher prices than they would have paid had Amphastar not been blocked from the market.

The plaintiffs additionally claim that the defendants wrongfully acquired monopoly power and used that power to exclude Amphastar from the relevant market; had the specific intent to monopolize and maintain their monopoly through their willful deception of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention to bar the plaintiffs from selling generic enoxaparin and by wrongfully pursuing a patent infringement action; and attempted to monopolize the relevant market, in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

Amphastar also brought similar claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law and Cartwright Act. The plaintiffs seek antitrust, punitive, treble, and exemplary damages, as well as lost profits, prospective damages, interest and costs, and attorney fees.

The case number is 5:15-CV-01914.

Attorneys: Jan P. Weir (K&L Gates, LLP) for Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and International Medication Systems, Inc.

Companies: Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; International Medication Systems, Inc.; Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

News: Antitrust CaliforniaNews