Novartis Unit Sandoz to Face Lannett’s Claims Over Thyroid Drug

Novartis AG unit Sandoz Inc. must face unfair competition claims for allegedly interfering with Lannett Co.'s exclusive deal to make another drugmaker’s thyroid medication, a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled, about six months after letting Sandoz move forward with mirror-image allegations.

Judge Gerald A. McHugh advanced Lannett’s counterclaims in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, saying Sandoz’s “alleged activities,” including unauthorized sales of the drug levothyroxine, and “false statements to customers, may constitute unfair competition.”

It’s plausible Sandoz “disrupted” the natural tendency of patients taking levoxythyroxine to stick with the same third-party manufacturer, Cediprof Inc., because ...