Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Wall Street Journal - May 28, 2004
Leila Abboud, leila.abboud@wsj.com
Aetna declined to say why it withdrew the suit, saying it "intends to discuss with Abbott the basis for its repricing action."
The health insurer's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, alleged that Abbott's price increase was anticompetitive and used the drug's unusual market power to boost sales of another one of its medications. In December, the price of the drug, Norvir, was boosted to $8.57 a day from $1.75.
Norvir plays a unique role in AIDS treatment because it is usually used at low doses in combination with other protease inhibitors to boost their efficacy. Critics say the price increase was a bid to induce people to turn to Kaletra, Abbott's own combination product.
Abbott denies that and says the price increase was done to capture the true value of Norvir in AIDS treatment. Abbott said Kaletra's market share among protease inhibitors has declined slightly to 30.1% since the price increase.
The price increase has caused a huge stir in Washington. Earlier this week, federal regulators weighed whether the government should allow an early generic copy of Norvir because the drug was developed in part with taxpayer money. The government has never taken such an action before.
Officials from the National Institutes of Health say they have no timetable for deciding whether the government would act to allow an early generic of Norvir. Even if the government acted, a copy of Norvir would be slow to reach the market because Abbott could appeal the decision, and a generic maker would have to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for marketing approval.
Several members of Congress called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the price increase.
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