On Friday a case was filed in the District of New Jersey by MSP Recovery Claims and its affiliates against Celgene Corporation and its parent company Bristol Myers Squibb Company. The case is regarding anti competitive behavior and consumer protection claims against Celgene regarding its products Thalomid and Revlimid.
Patent holders are granted exclusive rights, subject to licensing, of their innovations. However, if a patent holder take actions that are against the public good and are anti-competitive, those actions can grant patent holders an unfair advantage that hurts consumer pricing and is against public policy.
MSP Recovery accuses the defendants of having taken anti-competitive actions to allow them to have a higher than market-supported price for their products. Specifically, MSP accuses the defendants of having manipulated safety studies to show the products to be safer than they actually are, entered into contracts with pharmacies and suppliers to prevent them from seeking generic alternatives, fraudulently obtained further patents to extend the protected span for these products, initiated sham patent infringement suits simply for the sake of intimidating generic competitors and preventing market entry, as well as filing petitions with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that were styled as citizen petitions, but which actually were from the defendants.
Per the plaintiff, this has resulted in massive extensions of the exclusive period of the medication, fewer generics entering the marketplace and delays in the entry of generics, as well as higher prices that have been paid by insurers and patients.
The plaintiffs are suing for violations of the Sherman act, monopolization and monopolistic scheme, attempted monopolization, unfair and deceptive trade practices, unjust enrichment, and Clayton act injunctive relief. Plaintiffs are represented by Santomassimo Davis LLP, Akeel & Valentine, PLC, MSP Recovery Law Firm ,and Armas Betran Zincone.
