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20 August 2019AmericasSarah Morgan

Amneal and others pay $1.5m to settle antitrust suit over Alzheimer’s drug

Amneal and three other generic makers have agreed to pay $1.54 million to settle a class-action lawsuit, which alleged the companies engaged in an unlawful scheme to maintain their monopoly over an Alzheimer’s drug.

Late last week, the health and welfare fund Sergeants Benevolent Association said that  Amneal, Sun Pharma and Upsher-Smith Laboratories have paid a combined $1.2 million to a proposed class of end-payor purchasers. Wockhardt and a subsidiary will pay $340,000 in three instalments.

The Sergeants Benevolent Association had filed its class-action complaint back in August 2015, accusing the companies of striking deals with Actavis subsidiary Forest to keep a generic version of Namenda (memantine hydrochloride) off the market.

According to the claim, Forest conspired with the generic makers to drop their challenges to a patent covering the drug and delay their launch.

Forest also reportedly launched Namenda XR, an extended-release version of Namenda, to “force the conversion of the memantine hydrochloride” from Namenda to Namenda XR before market entry of generic versions.

The defendants moved jointly to dismiss the complaint and, in September 2016, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York largely denied the motion and issued a stay of the association’s action.

Then, in September last year, the court lifted the stay and ordered that the Sergeants Benevolent Association “get up to speed, engage in nonduplicative discovery, and be prepared to participate in global mediation”, said the fund.

The Sergeants Benevolent Association then mediated with Forest and its partner Merz, but this was unsuccessful.

Subsequently, the association mediated for several weeks with the Generic defendants and has now come to a settlement.

“Plaintiff continues to aggressively prosecute its claims against the remaining defendants,” said a memo on the settlement, filed by the association on Friday, August 16.

The settlement requires approval from the court.

According to the plaintiff: “They resulted from intense, protracted negotiations among highly experienced counsel whose intimate knowledge with the relevant facts and surrounding legal landscape ideally situates them to assess the merits of their respective claims and defences, and the risks of proceeding to trial.”

All eligible class members will be eligible to receive a cash settlement payment, avoiding the risk and uncertainty that would be involved in prosecuting this action to judgment, and likely beyond in appellate review, added the memo.

The settling defendants have also agreed to provide the fund with “extensive cooperation” to assist counsel in further prosecuting the case against the remaining non-settling defendants.

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More on this story

Americas
29 October 2019   Allergan has reached a $750 million deal to resolve antitrust litigation brought against its subsidiary Forest Laboratories over Alzheimer’s drug Namenda.
Americas
5 December 2019   New Jersey-based generic drugmaker Rising Pharmaceuticals has admitted to conspiring to fix prices and allocate customers for a generic hypertension drug.
Americas
15 September 2020   A Massachusetts judge has provided her preliminary approval to a $19.9 million settlement in a class action antitrust suit brought against pharmaceutical company Actavis.

More on this story

Americas
29 October 2019   Allergan has reached a $750 million deal to resolve antitrust litigation brought against its subsidiary Forest Laboratories over Alzheimer’s drug Namenda.
Americas
5 December 2019   New Jersey-based generic drugmaker Rising Pharmaceuticals has admitted to conspiring to fix prices and allocate customers for a generic hypertension drug.
Americas
15 September 2020   A Massachusetts judge has provided her preliminary approval to a $19.9 million settlement in a class action antitrust suit brought against pharmaceutical company Actavis.