Advocates Claim Bayer Fixed Prices for Cipro

Bayer has conspired to fix the price of anti-anthrax drug Cipro and acted to delay the production of generic versions, consumer advocacy groups claim in a lawsuit.

Joining a suit filed last year in New York, the groups claim that Bayer and Barr Laboratories Inc. manipulated the prices of Cipro, which has been prescribed after a series of anthrax infections in New York, Washington, New Jersey and Florida that has claimed three lives.

The original suit by Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co. claimed that antitrust laws were violated when Bayer agreed in 1997 to pay millions of dollars to Barr and other drug makers not to market a generic rival to Cipro.

Bayer’s pharmaceutical division in West Haven, Conn., was not available for comment.

The Prescription Access Litigation Project, joined by more than a dozen consumer and senior-citizen advocacy groups, wants a court to invalidate Bayer’s agreement to sell Cipro to the U.S. government for half the previous price. The suit also seeks to open “the way for generic forms of Cipro to enter the market.”

The advocacy groups, which say they represent more than a million consumers, claim Bayer has paid $200 million to generic drug companies to abandon cheaper versions of Cipro.

In addition to Barr, the consumer groups claim the Rugby Group, a unit of Watson Pharmaceuticals, and an Aventis unit were paid to abandon efforts to bring cheaper products to the market.

Bayer slumped 5.7% in German trading Thursday. Barr rose 1 cent to $75.71 and Watson gained 23 cents to $48.22, both on the NYSE.