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# Allergan Pays $750 Million on Namenda Switch Scheme
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/allergan-pays-750-million-on-namenda-switch-scheme/
- Published: 2019-10-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T01:59:11.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5145356

Allergan and its Forest Laboratories subsidiaries have [settled for $750 million ](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/forest-resolves-antitrust-class-action-litigation-with-direct-purchasers-of-namenda-2019-10-28?ref=fdaweb.com)a lawsuit brought by direct purchasers of Alzheimer’s drug Namenda (memantine) that alleged Forest illegally delayed generic competition. The settlement does not recognize any wrongdoing and resolves litigation that was scheduled to go to trial this week.

Plaintiffs alleged that Forest entered into an illegal agreement with its prospective generic competitor, Mylan, and then orchestrated a “hard switch” scheme whereby patients on immediate-release Namenda were switched to extended-release Namenda XR. As a result of Forest’s conduct, purchasers contended they were injured from the “loss of earlier, unconstrained, lower priced generic competition,” attorneys said.

At one point, HHS [issued a brief](http://aspe.hhs.gov/sp/reports/2015/GenericMarket/ib%5FGenericMarket.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com) criticizing Actavis (Forest subsequently acquired Actavis) for its plan to withdraw twice-daily Namenda IR from the market, a move that “appears designed to force a highly vulnerable population suffering from a severe chronic illness to shift to a reformulated version of the product for the purpose of limiting generic competition and preserving monopoly profits.” It said that the federal government in particular would overpay relative to what it would have paid had the generic product been permitted to freely compete with the newer reformulated Namenda XR once-daily product. “Such practices stress public budgets and reduce the ability to promote value-based health care use,” the issue brief said.

In 2014, then-New York attorney general **Eric T. Schneiderman** filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Actavis from forcing Alzheimer’s patients to switch to Namenda XR. “Once patients switch to the new drug, Namenda XR, it’s likely that they will remain on that medication even after the Namenda generics hit the market due to the practical difficulties of switching back, thus allowing Actavis to insulate its profits from competition,” according to a [news release](http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-files-groundbreaking-lawsuit-block-pharmaceutical-manufacturer?ref=fdaweb.com) at the time. That case was eventually settled too.