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NEW YORK (AP) - Two giant drug companies are waging a battle in Manhattan federal court over the market for drugs aimed at protecting the brittle bones of older women — a multibillion-dollar business expected to rapidly expand in the coming years.
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Inc. has asked a judge to force Hoffman-LaRoche Inc. to withdraw some of its advertising and stop making some of its claims about its new osteoporosis drug, Boniva. Four days of testimony ended Wednesday and U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty gave both sides a month to submit additional paperwork before lawyers deliver closing statements at a later date.
P&G lawyer Harold Weinberger said the company has learned that Hoffman-LaRoche has engaged in "an orchestrated, intentional campaign" to tell doctors and consumers that Boniva is just as effective as its drug, Actonel, and the market leader Fosamax, from Merck & Co.
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