Makers of Blood-Pressure Treatment Sued

Drug makers Hoechst and Andrx Corp. were accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to block sales of generic drugs that would have competed with Hoechst’s popular blood-pressure medication, Cardizem CD. In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Superior Court in San Francisco, Tustin resident Betty Morris, a user of the drug, and Reliable Drug Center, also in Tustin, claimed that Andrx agreed to hold off marketing its own generic competitor to Cardizem CD in exchange for a “bribe” of $40 million a year from Hoechst. The suit contends the drug companies collaborated to preserve Hoechst’s near monopoly in a market with annual sales of nearly $1 billion and to allow Hoechst to set an artificially high price for Cardizem. They also charge that as a result of the high price, some consumers forego treatment of high blood pressure and angina. The suit, which seeks class-action status, asks for unspecified damages and a court order requiring the companies to return “any amounts by which they have been unjustly enriched.” German drug giant Hoechst denied the allegations. Andrx officials couldn’t be reached for comment.