Walgreens, Kroger Lose Drug Pricing Suit Against J&J

The Walgreen Co. and the Kroger Co. don’t have standing to sue Johnson & Johnson and Jannsen Biotech over the allegedly inflated cost of the pharmaceutical drug Remicade.

The retailers only indirectly purchase Remicade through wholesalers, which is fatal to their claims against Johnson & Johnson, Judge Curtis Joyner said March 25 in his opinion for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The wholesalers are the parties with the right to assert antitrust claims against Johnson & Johnson under their purchase agreements, Joyner said. And an anti-assignment provision in the purchase agreements made the wholesalers’ alleged ...