AbbVie Unit to Face Antitrust Trial on Alzheimer’s Drug Patent

AbbVie Inc. unit Forest Laboratories and another drug company lost their bid Friday to head off an antitrust trial in federal court in Manhattan over their alleged scheme to delay generic versions of the Alzheimer’s disease treatment Namenda through unlawful patent settlements.

Judge Colleen McMahon mostly denied summary judgment motions seeking to end the class action, which is led by a pension fund representing “indirect” Namenda buyers. A parallel lawsuit on behalf of “direct” purchasers like drug distributors settled in 2020 for $750 million.

The outcome of the case will turn on “myriad factual disputes"—including whether other drugmakers were ...