Settlement Reached With Japanese Pharmaceutical Company

Attorney General Doug Chin announced on Feb. 1, 2018, that Hawai‘i and 22 other states reached an agreement with a Japanese pharmaceutical company to bar anticompetitive conduct for 20 years.

The company, Teikoku Seiyaku Co. Ltd., produced Lidoderm patches. It is the for-profit parent company of Teikoku Pharma USA, and one of the largest pharmaceutical patch manufacturers in the world.

The State of Hawai‘i and 22 other states accused Teikoku of illegal conduct due to its participation in an agreement to protect a monopoly on Lidoderm. Lidoderm is the brand-name for lidocaine patches, a transdermal patch widely prescribed for relief of pain associated with post-herpetic neuralgia, a common complication of shingles.

The 20-year injunction prohibits Teikoku from paying or incentivizing a generic drug maker to delay entry into the drug market or from researching, developing, manufacturing, marketing, or selling any drug product.

“Blocking generics means fewer choices and higher medical costs for Hawai‘i consumers who are suffering,” Attorney General Chin said. “This agreement provides a great mechanism for the states to enforce against bad companies trying to prevent competition.”