Overview
In two orders yesterday, Judge Oetken dismissed claims brought by healthcare consumer advocacy group Community Catalyst against Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer. In the Bristol-Myers opinion, Judge Oetken dismissed antitrust and racqueteering claims based on the alleged practice of drug manufacturers to cover the cost of insurance co-pays for their brand-name drugs. The advocacy group had alleged that such practices had the effect of driving up overall health care spending. Judge Oetken did allow the group to replead its claim for racketeering fraud for failure to factor the discounts into its reported drug prices. In the Pfizer opinion, Judge Oetken granted the same plaintiffs' motion to voluntarily withdraw the complaint in order to pursue the same claims in a separate matter already commenced in a different (purportedly more favorable) jurisdiction. (For more, see this Reuters piece.)