Barr settles birth-control suit for $5.9 million

MONTVALE, N.J. Barr Pharmaceuticals will pay $5.9 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed by 34 states alleging that the company accepted $20 million in return for keeping a generic version of Warner Chilcott’s oral contraceptive Ovcon off the market, according to the Wall Street Journal.

As part of the agreement, Barr will not enter into non-competitive agreements with companies that sell brand name drugs for the next 10 years.

In 2005, 34 states and the District of Columbia sued Barr and Warner for their arrangement, which stated that Barr would not sell a generic version of Ovcon for five years in exchange for the payment. The states alleged the agreement violated state and federal antitrust laws and artificially inflated the price of Ovcon.

In 2005, Warner Chilcott reported $90.2 million in sales of Ovcon.