Lawsuit Against Drug Companies Settled; State Gets Share
By Arielle Levin Becker, The Hartford Courant
Connecticut will receive $224,714 in a settlement with three drug companies over allegations that they blocked cheaper generic versions of the cholesterol drug TriCor from reaching the market.
The money, a portion of which will reimburse the state's Medicaid program for TriCor prescriptions it covered, is part of a $22.5 million settlement from a lawsuit Connecticut, 24 other states, and the District of Columbia filed against Abbott Laboratories, Fournier Industrie et Sante and Laboratoires Fournier S.A., in 2008.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal accused the companies of conspiring to block less-costly generic drugs from the market by using tactics such as obtaining improper patents for the drug, filing sham lawsuits against companies that make generics and manipulating the drug's formula to prevent the development of a generic version.
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