Merck gets Humana's amended US antitrust claims over Zetia dismissed
( September 4, 2025, 22:31 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: Merck was granted a motion to dismiss Humana’s US antitrust claims accusing it of entering into an illegal pay-for-delay agreement, which kept a generic version of the cholesterol drug Zetia out of the market. “The court finds Humana’s allegations concerning Merck’s purported failure to disclosure information about relevant scientific studies and inventorship during prosecution of the ’115 and RE ’721 patents are still insufficient to support its Walker Process fraud theory. Although the Third Amended Complaint includes additional information relevant to the inquiry—specifically, details surrounding the metabolization studies allegedly withheld and the name of an individual whose inventorship was purportedly omitted from the patent application—critical information is lacking to reasonably establish that some relevant individual had material information and specifically intended to withhold that information to deceive the [US Patent and Trademark Office] in addition to, and contemporaneous with, having knowledge of the materiality of that information,” US District Judge Brian R. Martinotti said. See attached file. ...
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