Trial Attorneys Win Cheaper Prescription Drugs for American Consumers

Lawsuit stopped pharmaceutical company from blocking the sale of less-expensive, safe generics

Over-priced prescription drugs are driving up the cost of health care for everyone. Part of the problem is drug company CEOs who’ll go to extreme lengths to stop less-expensive, safe generics from reaching the market.

The pharmaceutical company SmithKline manufactures the anti-depressant drug Paxil, which in 1999 grossed more than $1.4 billion in sales. When Apotex, Inc. and TorPharm Inc. sought approval from the Food & Drug Administration to market a less costly, safe and generic version of the drug, SmithKline wrongly filed patent challenges to delay any generic from reaching the market—keeping a monopoly, and keeping prices artificially high for patients.

Each patent challenge delayed the introduction of a less-expensive generic by two and half years. The Federal Trade Commission even opened an anti-trust investigation of SmithKline, but ultimately it was trial attorneys who won less costly prescription drugs for American consumers.

On behalf of consumers, small businesses, and drug wholesalers, trial attorneys filed a class action anti-trust suit against the company, won compensation for the overcharging and stopped the delays. The judge even applauded “the high caliber of plaintiffs’ counsels’ work in this case.”

Nichols v. SmithKline Beecham Corp

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