By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) – Pfizer has agreed to pay $93 million to settle antitrust claims by wholesale drug distributors that accused it of conspiring with India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories to delay gross sales of inexpensive, generic variations of the ldl cholesterol drug Lipitor.
Attorneys for Lipitor purchasers together with Rochester Drug Co-Operative Inc and Puerto Rico’s Drogueria Betances LLC disclosed the settlement in a submitting on Wednesday in U.S. courtroom in Trenton, New Jersey.
The distributors’ case will proceed in opposition to Ranbaxy, the attorneys submitting mentioned.
The proposed settlement, which requires a choose’s approval, comes after greater than a decade of litigation. Pfizer didn’t admit legal responsibility.
Pfizer in a press release referred to as the allegations “factually and legally with out benefit.” It mentioned the settlement was “honest, affordable and the easiest way to resolve this litigation.”
A consultant for Solar Pharma, which acquired Ranbaxy in 2014, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Pfizer launched Lipitor in 1997, and the drug drove greater than $130 billion in gross sales throughout its first 14 years available on the market.
The pharma distributors claimed Pfizer fraudulently sought to increase its patent rights over Lipitor. They accused the corporate of paying Ranbaxy to delay introducing a generic model of Lipitor and fascinating in sham litigation with Ranbaxy over the drug.
Legal professionals for the plaintiffs mentioned the settlement gives “rapid financial aid” to class members and avoids the danger of continued litigation, potential appeals and no restoration. They mentioned they may search as much as about $31 million in authorized charges from the settlement fund.
The case is In re: Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court docket, District of New Jersey, No. 3:12-cv-02389-PGS-JBD.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Enhancing by Christopher Cushing)
