Abbot sees legal action against Takeda dismissed

Legal action taken by Abbot Laboratories against Takeda Pharmaceuticals has been dismissed.

A district court in Chicago threw out charges against Takeda which claimed the company had earned unwarranted profits from a joint venture, TAP Pharmaceutical Products and said the firm had forced it to continue buying up lansoprazole from Takeda.

Lawyers representing Takeda denied the charges and appealed for dismissal, saying that disagreements between the shareholders of TAP had to be legally pursued in Japan.

The court agreed and said: “Abbott is a sophisticated entity that agreed to include the contested forum-selection clause in the contracts that governed its relationship with Takeda and TAP” and added it “must abide by the agreement it negotiated and litigate these claims in Japan.”

Abbot recently found itself in the news in the UK after the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) suspended it after it admitted that its staff had broken the ABPI code of conduct on hospitality.

Employees were alleged to have taken doctors to lap-dancing clubs and greyhound races. All concerned have since left the company and Abbot claimed it had taken measures to prevent it happening again.

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