Tustin Plaintiffs Say Drug Firms Conspired to Block Generics

Drug makers Hoechst AG and Andrx Corp. have been accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to block sales of generic drugs that would have competed with Hoechst’s popular blood-pressure medication Cardizem CD.

In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Superior Court in San Francisco, Tustin resident Betty Morris, a user of the drug, and Reliable Drug Center of Tustin claim that Andrx agreed to hold off marketing its own generic competitor to Cardizem CD in exchange for a “bribe” of $40 million a year from Hoechst.

The suit contends that the drug companies collaborated to preserve Hoechst’s near monopoly in a market with annual sales of nearly $1 billion and to allow Hoechst to set an artificially high price for Cardizem CD.

It also charges that as a result of the high price, some consumers forgo treatment of high blood pressure and angina. The suit, which seeks class-action status, asks for a jury trial, unspecified damages and a court order requiring the companies to return “any amounts by which they have been unjustly enriched.”

German drug giant Hoechst denied the allegations. Hoechst had agreed to pay Andrx $10 million every quarter until a legal dispute between the two companies is resolved. The agreement was disclosed in Hoechst’s annual report for 1997.

After Andrx sought regulatory approval in late 1995 to market its generic drug, Hoechst filed a patent-infringement suit against Andrx. The two drug makers struck their controversial agreement last September.

However, this week’s lawsuit contends that neither side is inclined to resolve the patent litigation. It alleges that the Hoechst-Andrx agreement effectively prevents other generic manufacturers from marketing their drugs.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.