US states file BuSpar lawsuit against B-MS

13 December 2001

Attorneys General from 29 US states have filed a lawsuit againstBristol-Myers Squibb, alleging that the firm illegally kept generic versions of its anxiolytic BuSpar (buspirone) off the market.

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York Federal Court that B-MS violated antitrust laws by obtaining a new patent extending its market exclusivity for BuSpar, which generated over $700 million in sales during the last year. The firm listed a patent on the metabolite of BuSpar just before the drug's patent expiration in November 2000.

It is also alleged that the company knowingly made false statements to the US Food and Drug Administration in an effort to prevent generic drugmakers from selling their version of BuSpar.

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