AbbVie faces class action lawsuit from New York grocery union over Humira 'patent thicket'

AbbVie’s efforts to protect its megablockbuster Humira have been well documented and much maligned, and now New York’s largest grocery union is taking the drugmaker to task over its "patent thicket" and "market division" agreements.

New York’s UFCW Local 1500 Welfare Fund, which provides health and welfare benefits to nearly 23,000 plan participants, filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the drugmaker over its defense of Humira, which generated nearly $20 billion in sales last year. 

UFCW Local 1500 says AbbVie "created and employed an exclusionary ‘patent thicket’—an unlawful scheme whereby it secured over 100 patents designed solely to insulate Humira from any biosimilar competition in the U.S. for years to come." The company's efforts to protect the drug have violated antitrust and consumer protection laws, the union argues.

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