Teva Pharmaceuticals Loses Bid to Toss Inhaler Antitrust Claims

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. will face antitrust claims that it hampered generic competition in the asthma inhaler market after a federal judge denied the company’s bid to toss those allegations.

Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts said in a Tuesday ruling the plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded a monopolization scheme, as well as facts to support an illegal reverse payment with Amneal Pharmaceuticals to hold off on releasing a generic competitor to Teva’s QVAR line of brand-name asthma inhalers.

The case is among a string of litigation facing drug manufacturers over claims they’ve improperly ...