Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—D.N.J.: End-Payor class claims dismissed in Lipitor suit, (Nov 3, 2014)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

End-Payor plaintiffs cannot proceed with claims that Pfizer, Inc. and Ranbaxy, Inc. entered into a reverse payment settlement agreement (RPSA) that blocked generic competition for the pharmaceutical drug atorvastatin calcium, sold under the brand name Lipitor. In dismissing the End-Payor plaintiffs’ amended complaint with prejudice, the federal district court in Trenton, New Jersey determined that the plaintiffs failed to provide a reliable foundation for estimating the monetary value of the alleged non-monetary “reverse payment,” and that the court could not determine the agreement’s reasonableness under the antitrust laws (In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, October 30, 2014, Sheridan, P.).

The End-Payor plaintiffs alleged that the defendants entered into an illegal RPSA in 2008 by signing a settlement agreement in which Pfizer gave substantial financial inducements to Ranbaxy, in exchange for Ranbaxy’s agreement to delay its launch of generic Lipitor until November 30, 2011. The financial inducements included: (1) Pfizer’s “sweetheart” agreement to dismiss damages claims likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Accupril litigation in exchange for a token “pretextual” payment of $1 million; and (2) the right to market generic Lipitor in at least eleven foreign markets outside the United States.

The court, however, dismissed the End-Payor plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice, for the same reasons outlined in its September 12, 2014 memorandum, dismissing substantially similar claims pleaded by direct purchaser class plaintiffs. In its previous order, the court found that the direct purchaser plaintiffs failed to establish any type of methodology to connect their claim to their monetary value of the alleged non-monetary “reverse payment.”

The case number is 3:12-cv-02389 (PGS).

Attorneys: Lisa J. Rodriguez (Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLP) and Vincent J. Esades (Heins Mills & Olson, PLC) for End-Payor Class Plaintiffs. Liza M. Walsh (Connell Foley, LLP) for Pfizer Inc. Mayra Velez Tarantino (Lite Depalma Greenberg, LLC) for Ranbaxy.

Companies: Pfizer Inc.; Ranbaxy

Cases: Antitrust NewJerseyNews