Abbott Park, IL - Abbott Laboratories, along with Solvay SA, are being sued in 18 states for allegedly blocking efforts to bring generic versions of their cholesterol-lowering medication, TriCor, a fenofibrate, to market [1].

The 18 states filed their lawsuit in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, accusing Abbott and Solvay's Fournier Industrie et Santé and Laboratories Fournier of undermining efforts to bring generic drugs to market by patenting new formulations of TriCor with only minor changes to the drug.

In 2007, TriCor generated sales of $1.2 billion for Abbott, but the company, according to the lawsuit, has conspired since 1998 to maintain a monopoly on the market by obtaining multiple patents. Abbott denies the allegations, with spokesperson Melissa Brotz telling Bloomberg.com that Abbott's actions are lawful and that the company has not prevented other fenofibrate drugs from being marketed.

At issue in the suit is a 2004 decision to market a new dissolvable version of TriCor in 48-mg and 145-mg doses, a decision approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The dissolvable version keeps TriCor under patent until 2018. Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia, are suing Abbott. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is leading the litigation on behalf of the other states.

In other Abbott news, Takeda Pharmaceuticals is paying Abbott Labs $1.5 billion to split their US joint venture, a deal that gives the Japanese drug company the rights to the blockbuster heartburn and ulcer drug Prevacid while Abbott gets the rights to a prostate cancer drug.