NEW YORK -- A coalition of consumer groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to end agreements between Bayer Corp. and three generic manufacturers that they claim keeps a lower cost version of Cipro -- used to treat anthrax -- off the market.
The Boston-based Prescription Access Litigation represents 14 advocacy groups which filed a the lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn to have Bayer's agreements with Barr Laboratories; Rugby, a division of Watson Laboratories; and Hoeschst-Marion-Roussel, now a part of Aventis SA, declared illegal.
Bayer has paid $200 million to the companies who had been seeking to bring generic versions of Cipro to the market. Barr and Bayer were set to go to trial over the Cipro patent in 1997, but reached an out-of-court settlement in which Barr receives $30 million a year from Bayer.
``There is a public emergency now. Bayer should not be allowed to keep a lock on the generics entering the market,'' said PAL spokeswoman Laurie Covens.
The PAL suits join a group of class action suits filed against Bayer and the generic firms.
Barr spokeswoman Carol Cox defended the company's agreement. She said it allows for a generic version to be sold starting in July 2003, before Bayer's patent expires in December 2003.
``It is erroneous to say our agreement is the reason there are no generics on the market,'' said Cox. ``We were afraid we were going to lose our case.''
Bayer, Watson and Aventis didn't return calls for comment.
