In re Prandin Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, No. 10-cv-12141 (E.D. Mich.)

In the Prandin case, Faruqi & Faruqi represent a pharmaceutical wholesaler and a proposed class of direct purchasers of Novo Nordisk’s branded diabetes drug Prandin (repaglinide).   The case alleges that Novo Nordisk engaged in an overarching anticompetitive scheme to block less-expensive generic Prandin competition and thereby force direct purchasers to pay overcharges for repaglinide.  Novo Nordisk’s scheme is alleged to include defrauding the United States Patent and Trademark Office into issuing a particular patent, and purposely manipulating that patent’s “use code narrative” in the FDA Orange Book in a deliberate effort to prevent FDA from approving generic versions of Prandin even for monotherapy, a disclaimed prior art use that did not and could not infringe any Novo Nordisk patent.  A violation of § 2 of the Sherman Act is charged.  Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP was appointed by the court to serve on the executive committee of this case.