The U.S. SEC denied a petition asking it to amend its 50-year-old no-admit/no-deny settlement policy that slaps a perpetual gag on parties that opt to resolve SEC allegations through settlements rather than in court.
How long does it take for a U.S.-based biopharma company to complete a bankruptcy? In the case of privately held Purdue Pharma LP, the answer is likely five years or longer, depending on when the Supreme Court rules on the matter and whether it orders a do-over. The Supreme Court is the next chapter in the court saga that began in 2019 when the Stamford, Conn.-based company filed for bankruptcy in its first step toward reorganizing as a public benefit company.
Eli Lilly and Co. is paying $13.5 million to bow out of a class action lawsuit that claimed the list price of several insulin analogue products was fraudulent. Lilly also committed to capping the monthly patient out-of-pocket cost at $35 for its insulin products for at least four years, bringing the total value of the settlement, announced May 26, to more than $500 million, according to the attorneys who filed the class action on behalf of patients in 2017.
While it continues to deny all kickback allegations raised in a whistleblower suit filed seven years ago, Biogen Inc. agreed Sept. 26 to pay $900 million to resolve claims that it paid doctors in the U.S. to prescribe its multiple sclerosis drugs from 2009 through March 2014.
How many patents does it take to violate U.S. antitrust law? That question isn’t a lead-in to a lame joke. Neither is it a valid question for a patent challenge, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which Aug. 1 affirmed the dismissal of a payer suit against Abbvie Inc. that claimed the North Chicago drug company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act when it obtained 132 patents on Humira (adalimumab) and then invoked them against biosimilars.
It’s not a done deal yet, but Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has agreed in principle to pay up to $4.25 billion, plus about $100 million to Native American tribes, to end most of the lawsuits it’s facing across the U.S. over its opioid sales. The figure includes settlements the company already has made with some state and local governments, as well as the supply of up to $1.2 billion worth of Teva’s generic naloxone nasal spray.
A U.S. federal jury breathed new life into so-called pay-for-delay settlements when it found that a 2010 agreement between Endo International plc and Impax Laboratories LLC was procompetitive as it allowed Impax to launch its generic version of Opana ER, an opioid pain drug, before key patents expired.
A lengthy trial over two generic drug manufacturers’ alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic in West Virginia came to an end this week when the U.S. affiliate of Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Allergan, now part of Abbvie Inc., agreed to a settlement totaling more than $161.5 million.
Deciding not to roll the dice this time, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its U.S.-based Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos. removed themselves April 18 from an ongoing opioid trial in West Virginia by agreeing to a $99 million settlement with the state.
Mallinckrodt plc agreed to pay $260 million to resolve separate U.S. allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by underpaying Medicaid rebates for its H.P. Acthar Gel (corticotropin) and that it violated the anti-kickback law by using a foundation as a conduit to illegally pay Medicare patients’ copay subsidies.
