Boehringer Delayed Generic Rivals by Misusing Patents, Suit Says

Boehringer Ingelheim was hit with a lawsuit alleging the drugmaker wrongfully listed patents for inhalers in an FDA registry to stifle generic competition and maintain inflated prices, causing overcharges of “many millions, if not billions, of dollars.”

Boehringer used the US Food and Drug Administration’s patent registry for approved drugs, the Orange Book, to improperly extend its monopoly on Combivent Respimat and Spiriva Respimat—two lucrative treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—according to a proposed class-action complaint filed Wednesday by the Massachusetts Laborers’ Health & Welfare Fund in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

• Spiriva Respimat has sales ...