Ruling Allows Settlement Over Drug Prices

A federal appeals judge cleared the way for a $352-million settlement in a price-fixing case involving 11 major pharmaceutical firms to take effect Sept. 2. Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Richard Posner dismissed the remaining appeals of some plaintiffs of the class-action settlement, which requires several of the drug makers, including Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc., to stop pricing goods differently for different buyers. A group of pharmacists filed suit in federal court in Chicago in 1993 claiming that the drug makers’ two-tier pricing policy giving hospitals and managed-care organizations deep discounts amounted to price-fixing.