Firms hoping Supreme Court blinks in eye drop dispute

Allergan, Bausch & Lomb, Merck, Pfizer push case

Eye drop users everywhere have had it happen. Tilt your head back, drip a drop in your eye and part of that drop always seems to dribble down your cheek.

But what most people see as an annoyance, some prescription drop users say is grounds for a lawsuit. Drug companies’ bottles dispense drops that are too large, leaving wasted medication running down their faces, they say.

Don’t roll your eyes. Major players in Americans’ medicine cabinets — including Allergan, Bausch & Lomb, Merck and Pfizer — are asking the Supreme Court to get involved in the case.

On the other side are patients using the companies’ drops to treat glaucoma and other eye conditions. Wasted medication affects their wallets, they say.

The companies, for their part, have said the patients shouldn’t be able to sue in federal court because their argument that they would have paid less for treatment is based on a bottle that doesn’t exist. They point out that the size of their drops was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and redesigned bottles would require FDA approval.

Courts haven’t seen eye to eye on whether patients should be able to sue. That’s why the drugmakers are asking the Supreme Court to step in. A federal appeals court in Chicago threw out one lawsuit over drop size. But a federal appeals court in Philadelphia let the similar case now before the Supreme Court go forward. That kind of disagreement tends to get the Supreme Court’s attention.