Bristol-Myers Settles Suit by Pharmacies

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. settled a lawsuit filed by Walgreen Co., Safeway Inc. and other chain pharmacies over its efforts to block generic competition to its anti-anxiety drug BuSpar.

J.C. Penney Co.’s Eckerd drugstores, Kroger Co. and Albertson’s Inc. also were plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in New York in April. Bristol-Myers is in talks to settle a similar group of lawsuits filed by consumers. A company spokesman said details are confidential.

The lawsuits accused the New York-based drug maker of improperly using patents to block competition to buspirone, the active ingredient in BuSpar. As a result, the pharmacies said, they were forced to sell a higher-priced version of buspirone from 1995 to 2001. Bristol-Myers has said its actions were lawful.