Attorney General Todd Rokita and his team have secured a Big Pharma company’s $1.27 million payment to Indiana to settle allegations that it violated antitrust and consumer-protection laws.
The company, GlaxoSmithKline, allegedly engaged in years-long delay tactics to prevent competitors from being able to go to market with generic versions of Flonase, a corticosteroid nasal spray — effectively forcing Hoosiers and other consumers to pay more for the drug by maintaining a monopoly.
“Competition is a key component of American free enterprise,†Attorney General Rokita said. “It’s part of what makes our country successful and unique. When companies engage in practices that thwart free and fair competition, it hurts all of us. We will keep standing up for Hoosiers and the rule of law.â€
GlaxoSmithKline allegedly filed multiple objectively meritless petitions with the Food and Drug Administration — strategizing that the filings would bog down the bureaucratic process and prolong the company’s exclusive rights.
“Our legal system gives patent-holders a defined period of exclusive rights to market the products created through their own investment in research and development,†Attorney General Rokita said. “That’s fair and reasonable. But we cannot tolerate the hijacking of that process by giant companies intent on keeping the little guys out of the game.â€
Indiana’s $1.27 million settlement is part of a larger $11 million settlement involving additional states. The settlement agreement, under which GlaxoSmithKline admits to no wrongdoing, will save Indiana money it otherwise would have expended in litigation costs.
