Abbott wins ruling tossing antitrust claims

Abbott Laboratories won a federal appeals court ruling dismissing AIDS patients' claims that the company maintained a monopoly and overcharged for the HIV medicine Norvir.

Patients accused Abbott of trying to create a monopoly for Kaletra, an HIV treatment it makes that contains the medicine Norvir, which helps boosts the performance of other AIDS drugs.

Abbott agreed to pay $10 million to patients to settle the lawsuits last year and said it would pay another $17.5 million if it failed to win in the appeals court.

The case is John Doe v Abbott Laboratories, 08-17699, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco).