Takeda Dodges Most, but Not All, of Actos Generic Delay Suit

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and four other drugmakers beat most of a Southern District of New York lawsuit alleging a scheme to delay generic competition for the diabetes drug Actos Oct. 8, less than a week after a parallel suit got the green light.

Both proposed antitrust class actions accuse Takeda of bottlenecking the generic approval process by gaming the Hatch-Waxman Act, which awards six months of generic exclusivity to drug companies that get patents invalidated. The company allegedly mischaracterized two patents covering only delivery methods as product patents.

Relying on those claims, the Food and Drug Administration forced other ...