Rex Heinke Quoted in Law360 on Calif. Supreme Court Decision in In re: Cipro Cases I & II
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Rex Heinke, co-head of Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, was quoted by Law360 in its article “The Biggest Calif. Court Decisions So Far In 2015.”
Heinke commented on a ruling in May by the California Supreme Court, which held that the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision allowing Hatch-Waxman Act payments to be challenged under federal antitrust law also allowed for similar lawsuits under California's competition laws. The move revived claims by drug buyers that Bayer Corp. illegally paid generic drug makers $400 million to delay the launch of their own version of the antibiotic Cipro.
Heinke said the decision “aligns state antitrust law with federal antitrust law and says that agreements by a generic-drug maker to not compete with someone who holds a patent on a drug is subject to antitrust scrutiny.” He further noted that the case “could lead to more litigation in state court because drug purchasers may decide that state courts, at least in California, are more receptive to antitrust claims than federal courts.”