AstraZeneca wins drug seller ruling
From Times Wire Services
AstraZeneca won a fight with Walgreen Co., Rite Aid Corp. and three other drug sellers that had accused the pharmaceutical company of breaking the law by how it marketed its blockbuster heartburn medication Nexium.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the complaints and ruled that Walgreen, Rite Aid, Meijer Inc., Louisiana Wholesale Drug and Burlington Drug Co. had failed to show that London-based AstraZeneca violated antitrust law.
The drug sellers had accused AstraZeneca of breaking the law by trying to protect its sales by switching its marketing efforts from Prilosec to the more expensive Nexium and an over-the-counter version of Prilosec months before Prilosec’s patent expired in 2001.
