In Catro M.D. PA v. Sanofi Pasteur Inc., New Jersey District Court Judge Jose L. Linares granted medical practitioners’ motion to dismiss Sanofi Pasteur Inc.’s antitrust counterclaim in a proposed class action that claims Sanofi pushed anti-competitive contract restrictions onto vaccine customers. In their suit, plaintiffs allege that Sanofi is cornering the market on pediatric vaccines by linking bundling agreements that require purchasers to buy 90 percent or more of their pediatric vaccine requirements from Sanofi to avoid price penalties on its pediatric meningococcal vaccine, with physician buying groups. Sanofi filed a counterclaim against the plaintiffs, claiming that the physicians colluded to demand discounts that lowered vaccine prices to non-competitive levels.
Plaintiffs moved to dismiss Sanofi’s counterclaim. The court granted plaintiff’s motion to dismiss, holding that Sanofi did not allege facts to support the plausible inference that the physician buying groups that entered agreements with the drugmaker to buy vaccines either fixed prices or restricted purchases. The court further held that Sanofi hadn’t adequately alleged that the groups are anti-competitive in nature, cause an anti-competitive effect in the vaccine market and have market power.