Court Denies J&J’s Motion to Dismiss Pfizer’s Complaint in Antitrust Suit

As we reported here, Pfizer filed an antitrust lawsuit last year against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alleging that J&J has engaged in an anticompetitive scheme to protect its Remicade® (infliximab) product since Pfizer introduced its competing biosimilar Inflectra (infliximab-dyyb) in 2016.

As we reported here, on November 18, 2017, J&J filed a motion to dismiss Pfizer’s complaint and on January 26, 2018, the Biosimilars Council filed an unopposed motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in opposition to J&J’s motion to dismiss.

On August 8, 2018, the Court denied J&J’s motion to dismiss, finding that Pfizer’s complaint sufficiently alleges that it has suffered an antitrust injury as the result of J&J’s anticompetitive conduct.  The Court also denied the Biosimilars Council motion for leave.