NEWS

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals to Pay $64.5 million in Antidepressant Lawsuit

Release time:

2024-05-16 10:23

Before the introduction of generic drugs, Effexor XR was the world's best-selling antidepressant, with annual sales of $4 billion. In 2011, several drug purchasers jointly accused Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company (Wyeth, acquired by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company in 2009) and Teva Pharmaceutical Company (TEVA) of conspiring to delay the approval and sale of antidepressant drug Effexor XR generic drugs. Several drug purchasers advocated that Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company pay more than US $0.5 billion to its competitor Teva Pharmaceutical Company in exchange for Teva Pharmaceutical Company agreeing to postpone the sale of Effexor XR generic drugs for 2 years, as a result, drug buyers still need to purchase the antidepressant drug Effexor XR from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals at a high price. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceuticals have violated the antitrust law.

After more than 10 years of litigation, Pfizer agreed to pay a settlement of US $39 million on April 10, 2024 to those who directly purchased antidepressant drugs Effexor XR from Wyeth. And on April 29, 2024, Pfizer agreed to pay another $25.5 million settlement to those who indirectly purchased antidepressant drugs Effexor XR from Wyeth. If the above settlement agreement is approved by the judge, pfizer will end more than 12 years of antitrust litigation.

The above settlement agreement does not include Teva Pharmaceuticals, so the antitrust lawsuit between Teva Pharmaceuticals and the drug purchaser continues.

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals said that although the drug buyer's allegations were unfounded, it still said that the settlement agreement was fair, reasonable and the best way to resolve the lawsuit.