Allergan Settles Alzheimer's Therapy Lawsuit for $750 Million

Allergan has agreed to pay $750 million to settle a class action lawsuit from a group of direct purchasers of Namenda, its Alzheimer's disease therapy, reports Reuters . Allergan will not admit to any wrongdoing, with the payoff recorded as a charge to its third-quarter earnings. The plaintiff claimed the drugmaker's Forest units worked to delay generic competition for Namenda, including entering an illegal agreement with rival Mylan. Forest, the original manufacturer of Namenda, discontinued the tablets taken twice daily in February 2014 and replaced the therapy with a version taken once a day prior to the rollout of a generic version in July 2015. Days later, Allergan announced its merger with Forest. The plaintiff said the plan to stop the older version of Namenda caused customers to switch to the newer version ahead of time, forcing them to pay for Namenda for customers who would otherwise be taking the generic version.