Aids Drug Litigation Continues

Associated Press

The central allegation by all plaintiffs is that Abbott raised the price of its pioneering drug Norvir to illegally dominate the market.

When Abbott Laboratories Inc. hiked up the price of a popular AIDS drug by 400 percent in 2003, executives prepared for the inevitable public relations hit, but assured themselves the backlash would be brief.

Nearly five years later, the accusations against Abbott are still flying.

The North Chicago, Ill., drug company stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in several pending antitrust lawsuits. It settled only its first and likely its cheapest one last week.

The lawsuits, all filed in Oakland federal court, accuse Abbott of raising the price of the HIV-fighting Norvir to illegally stifle competition and boost sales of its own alternative, Kaletra. Embarrassing internal communications between executives plotting how to thwart their rivals in the lucrative HIV drug cocktail market have been made public in the process.

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