Andrx takes charge - Big Deals

South Florida CEO, August, 2002

* Davie-based Andrx, a pharmaceutical company, said it will take a $60 million charge against earnings in the second quarter to settle claims it conspired to keep a generic heart drug off the market. A group of direct drug buyers, principally wholesalers, accused Andrx and Aventis Pharmaceutical of scheming to keep the generic version of Aventis' Cardizem CD -- called Cartia XT -- off the market.

The suit, filed in federal court in Detroit, said Andrx was paid about $90 million by Aventis to delay the drug's release for 11 months, beginning in 1998. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.