Takeda Pharmaceuticals Must Defend Amitiza Pay-to-Delay Claims

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Ltd. lost its bid to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit alleging that it entered into an anti-competitive agreement with Par Pharmaceuticals to delay market entry of a would-be generic competitor to Takeda’s constipation drug Amitiza.

Although the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts agreed to dismiss claims for damages related to sales of Par’s authorized generic, the court’s Tuesday order otherwise left the lawsuit against Takeda intact.

The plaintiffs, a would-be class of direct purchasers of Amitiza, alleged a plausible link between the agreement and a delay in the Food & Drug Administration’s approval of a ...