Judge Says Cipro Pact Isn’t Anti-Competitive

A U.S. judge ruled that the 1997 agreement between Barr Laboratories Inc. and Bayer to end a patent suit over the anthrax treatment Cipro wasn’t anti-competitive, according to Barr.

U.S. District Judge David G. Trager in Brooklyn, N.Y., rejected arguments that the settlement violated antitrust laws. The ruling narrows the scope of some 38 antitrust lawsuits filed by consumers and wholesalers against Pomona, N.Y.-based Barr and Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer.