The Kroger Company, a US supermarket operator that has pharmacy operations, has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against three pharmaceutical firms that recently agreed to settle patent litigation over the multi-million dollar anti-platelet drug Plavix (clopidogrel). Permanent injunctive relief is sought.In documents filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of Ohio, Kroger said the three firms, Sanofi-Aventis, Bristol-Myers Squibb and the generics manufacturer Apotex, in settling a patent dispute, agreed to a deal that could keep US patent protection until 2011 on Plavix (Scrip No 3143, p 14). Kroger alleges that "the defendants' agreement is a horizontal agreement not to compete and a per se violation of section one of the Sherman Act".
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机译：一家拥有药房业务的美国超市运营商克罗格公司已对三家制药公司提起了民事反托拉斯诉讼，这三家制药公司最近同意就数百万美元的抗血小板药物Plavix（氯吡格雷）解决专利诉讼。寻求永久性禁令救济。克罗格在俄亥俄州南部地区的美国地方法院备案的文件中说，赛诺菲-安万特公司，百时美施贵宝公司和非专利药生产商Apotex这三家公司在解决专利纠纷中同意了一项该交易可以使美国对Plavix的专利保护持续到2011年（Scrip No 3143，p 14）。克罗格称，“被告的协议是不竞争的横向协议，本质上是违反了《谢尔曼法》第一节的”。
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