AstraZeneca wins court fight with Walgreen, others

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca (AZN.L) won a fight on Monday with Walgreen (WAG.N), Rite Aid (RAD.N) and three other drug sellers that had accused the pharmaceutical company of breaking the law by how it marketed its blockbuster heartburn medication Nexium.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the complaints and ruled that Walgreen, Rite Aid, Meijer Inc, Louisiana Wholesale Drug and Burlington Drug Company had failed to show that AstraZeneca violated antitrust law.

The drug sellers had accused AstraZeneca of breaking the law by trying to protect its sales by switching its marketing efforts from Prilosec to more expensive Nexium and an over-the-counter version of Prilosec months before Prilosec's patent expired in 2001.

The court said AstraZeneca was within its rights to market Nexium to the detriment of Prilosec.

More than 1 billion people have taken Prilosec or Nexium, AstraZeneca has said. (Reporting by Diane Bartz, Editing by Toni Reinhold)