Bayer heads to court in US antitrust case over flea and tick drugs

By Mike Scarcella

July 22 (Reuters) –A former unit of German life science giant Bayer BAYGn.DE is fighting in California federal court this week against a pet care startup that claims the company tried to block competition in tick and flea treatments for pets.

A federal jury in San Jose heard opening statements Monday in the antitrust case Tevra Brands filed in 2019 against Bayer Healthcare.

Tevra’s lawsuit challenged a rebate that Bayer gave to certain pet supplies retailers and distributors in exchange for exclusively selling its products and not doing business with competitors.

“Bayer has made it increasingly difficult for retailers to sell generic drugs,” Daniel Owen, a lawyer for Tevra, told the jury on Monday.

Bayer’s lawyer, Daniel Asimov, responded by saying Tevra failed because it was slow to market and had poor relationships with retailers. He told jurors that Bayer competed fairly in a market “crowded” with rivals.

“Generic drug companies have flourished — but not Tevra,” Asimov said.

The trial is expected to last two weeks. Bayer denies wrongdoing.

Five years ago, Bayer sold Bayer Animal Health, a unit of Bayer Healthcare, to Elanco Animal Health ELAN.N in a $7.6 billion deal. Elanco is not a defendant. Bayer referred a request for comment to Elanco, which did not immediately respond.

Tevra’s lawyers declined to comment.

Americans spend billions of dollars a year on tick and flea treatments for pets, according to an expert representing the plaintiff.

Tevra said it competes with Bayer’s Advantage and Advantix topical flea and tick treatments and that it has lost millions of dollars in revenue because it is unable to more broadly distribute its generic topical formulation of imidacloprid, the active ingredient in flea and tick treatments for cats and dogs.

The lawsuit said Bayer’s alleged conduct “ensured that both retailers and consumers paid supra-competitive prices.”

Tevra told the court last week that its co-founder and CEO, Robert Scharf, was scheduled to testify “regarding a lucrative opportunity to bring a generic topical drug based on imidacloprid to market.”

Bayer says its rebate program was voluntary.

“The evidence clearly shows that retailers were free to purchase from other suppliers,” Bayer said in court documents filed last week.

The case is Tevra Brands LLC v. Bayer Healthcare LLC, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:19-cv-04312.

For Tevra: Daniel Owen from Polsinelli

For Bayer: Daniel Asimov and Sonia Pfaffenroth of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer

Bayer faces antitrust lawsuit from US company over flea and tick drugs

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