Law students pursue antitrust case

The Law School’s Consumer Law Litigation Clinic has filed a statewide antitrust class action lawsuit on behalf of individual purchasers of K-Dur 20, a potassium supplement typically taken by consumers who use high blood pressure medication.

The complaint alleges that Schering-Plough, which holds the patent for K-Dur 20, paid two other drug companies, Upsher-Smith Laboratories and American Home Products, tens of millions of dollars not to produce lower -cost generic equivalents of K-Dur 20. Sales of K-Dur 20 in the United States in 1998 alone exceeded $220 million.

Wisconsin is one of about 17 states that allow “indirect purchasers” to file antitrust lawsuits. The case was filed in Sheboygan County Circuit Court.

The named plaintiff is a 68-year-old widow who lives in Cedar Grove, says associate professor Stephen Meili, director of the Consumer Law Litigation Clinic.

The Federal Trade Commission, which recently issued a similar complaint against the three companies, estimates that the arrangements between the companies have cost consumers nationwide more than $100 million.

“We hope to compensate the plaintiff class for the difference between what they have been paying for K-Dur 20 over the past few years and what they would have paid had a lower cost generic been available,” Meili says.

“Law students enrolled in the Clinic this summer will be working on the motion for class certification and responding to whatever motions come our way,” Meili says.

Co-counsel Keller Rohrback in Seattle includes UW graduates Lynn Sarko, Britt Tinglum and Erin Riley, and co-counsel Lawton & Cates includes UW graduate and pre-trial advocacy instructor Marsha Mansfield.