Moneycontrol Bureau
Shares in homegrown pharmaceuticals firm Ranbaxy Labs rose 1.8 percent in early Mumbai trading after a US federal court ruled in its favour in a landmark “pay-to-delay” case.
The Boston court held Friday that a 2008 deal between Astrazeneca, which sells the blockuster Nexium drug, and Ranbaxy requiring the latter to delay launching Nexium’s generic version, did not violate anti-competition laws.
The plaint was filed by lawyers representing drug wholesalers, retailers and insurance companies, who alleged patients were losing money by being required to buy expensive patented drugs instead of cheaper generic copies.
If the verdict were to go against them, both AstraZenaca and Ranbaxy would have been required to pay fines that could have gone into billions of dollars, analysts said.
The suit had also initially named India’s Dr Reddy’s and Israel’s Teva but both firms had arrived at a settlement with the plaintiffs, a Reuters report said. A similar case against all four companies is under way in a Pennsylvania court.
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