Overview
On July 2, 2024, the court granted preliminary approval of a $58 million settlement between a certified class direct purchasers and Shire after seven-and-a-half years of hard-fought litigation. The settlement follows a $19.9 million settlement between a certified class of direct purchasers and Actavis, which was granted final approval by the court on December 9, 2020. Pending final approval, total settlements for the direct purchaser class will come to almost $80 million.
Cohen Milstein plays a significant role in representing the Direct Purchaser Class.
Case Background
Plaintiffs allege that in April 2013, Shire and Actavis entered into an alleged unlawful reverse payment agreement under which Actavis agreed to delay the entry of its ANDA-approved generic Intuniv until December 1, 2014. In return, Shire guaranteed Actavis a 180-day exclusivity period when it entered the market—an agreement worth hundreds of millions of dollars in sales to Shire and approximately millions in profits to Actavis.
Such reverse payment arrangements are unlawful because they delay generic competition, enabling competitors to unlawfully share monopoly profits between themselves, ultimately harming purchasers. Absent this agreement between Shire and Actavis, Plaintiffs claim that that less expensive generic versions of Intuniv would have come to market earlier and purchasers would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars.
Plaintiffs seek treble damages arising out of the Defendants’ unlawful impairment of competition for the drug Intuniv.