States sue Abbott for 'blocking' generics

And the battle over generics rages on. Eighteen states have filed an antitrust suit against Abbott Laboratories, saying the drugmaker blocked generic competition for its blockbuster cholesterol med TriCor. According to the suit, which also names the French pharma Fournier, the companies continuously tweaked the TriCor formula to keep generic versions off the market. It also claims that they deceived the U.S. Patent Office with misleading data.

Abbott says it hasn't kept TriCor copycats off the market; in fact, there are eight competing products, according to a company spokeswoman. A Fournier rep says it didn't do anything wrong and intends to "vigorously defend itself" against the charges.

- see the release from Florida AG Bill McCollum
- read the complaint from the Florida AG's website
- see the International Herald Tribune story
- check out more details in the Chicago Tribune

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