Abbott to settle lawsuit over HIV drug pricing

By Martha Graybow

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) has agreed to pay between $10 million and $27.5 million to settle a lawsuit contending it improperly raised the price of its HIV drug Norvir by 400 percent.

The exact size of the settlement will depend on the result of an appeals court review of the case, said attorney Michael Stocker, an attorney for the plaintiffs. An Abbott spokesman confirmed a settlement had been reached.

The pact was reached on Wednesday and requires approval by a U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, where the class-action lawsuit had been set to go to trial on Aug. 18, Stocker said.

AIDS patients and health plans sued Abbott in 2004, contending the company violated antitrust laws and engaged in unfair business practices by overcharging for Norvir.

Norvir plays a key role in AIDS-fighting cocktails because it can boost the effectiveness of other drugs. According to the plaintiffs, Abbott raised Norvir's price in an effort to harm its competitors whose drugs were dependent on being used in combination with Norvir.

The plaintiffs contended that Abbott increased Norvir's price in hopes of switching patients to a newer medicine, Kaletra, its own combination HIV treatment that contained Norvir.

Abbott has denied any anticompetitive behavior.

"The price adjustment of Norvir was a legitimate response to advances that Abbott scientists made in treating HIV and captured the fair value of its new use as a booster" used in combination with other drugs, Abbott spokesman Scott Stoffel said.