Bristol-Myers Nears Deal In Plavix Securities Suit

Bristol-Myers Nears Deal In Plavix Securities Suit - 6/16/2009

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2009 News and Press Releases

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News	News 2009
HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

SETTLEMENT NEWS:

Bristol-Myers Nears Deal In Plavix Securities Suit
Evan Weinberger

Securities Law 360. June 16, 2009
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EXCERPT: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has reached the outline of a settlement in a securities class action that accuses the drugmaker of duping shareholders and causing a stock drop when it failed to properly disclose a patent deal for a generic version of its blood-thinning drug Plavix. In an endorsed letter dated June 3 but entered into the docket Monday, an attorney for the plaintiffs, Salvatore Graziano of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP, said that the parties had reached an agreement in principle on a settlement in the case and that limited further discovery was taking place in order to finalize the deal. “We request that all current court proceedings be suspended and all currently scheduled deadlines be adjourned pending this process,” he wrote in the letter. Graziano declined to comment further on the details of the settlement. Bristol-Myers Squibb declined to comment as well. The suit, brought by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board and the Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association, centers around a contentious deal between BMS and generics maker Apotex Corp., long under scrutiny for its impact on competition. Shareholders said BMS misled them and subjected the agreement to a heightened risk of rejection by regulators. Two former BMS executives, Peter Dolan and Dr. Andrew Bodnar, were also named defendants in the case. Judge Paul A. Crotty denied BMS' motion to dismiss in August 2008, saying that the company had not persuasively addressed the plaintiffs' chief complaint — that BMS failed to disclose that it had relinquished certain legal rights that would otherwise have been available in the patent litigation. Also in August, Judge Crotty dismissed a separate but related securities suit against nine members of BMS' board of directors because the plaintiff failed to explain why the demand on BMS would be futile.

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