AG Harris Calls For Better Access To Generic Drugs
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- California's top prosecutor is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to bar drug companies from making agreements with competitors to keep quiet about generic versions of their brand name drugs.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris said the practice, called "pay-for-delay," artificially boosts drug prices. Harris is joined by 31 other attorney generals in the amicus brief filed Friday.
The Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments in the case against Bayer Corporation next week. The drugmaker allegedly paid competitors $400 million in an agreement not to market generic versions of the popular antibiotic, Cipro.
Harris' brief supports a private antitrust lawsuit filed by drug wholesalers, pharmacies and other direct purchasers of Cipro.
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