U.S. Judge OKs Bristol-Myers $125 Million Plavix Settlement

U.S. Judge OKs Bristol-Myers $125 Million Plavix Settlement - 8/19/2009

Home

Index of Filings

News and Press Releases

Filings

Decisions

Settlements

Litigation Activity Indices

Top Ten List

Annual/Quarterly Updates

Clearinghouse Research

Articles & Papers

Search

Related Sites

About Us

Local Rules

Sponsors

Register

_______________
Copyright © 2001
Stanford Law School

2009 News and Press Releases

SEARCH

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

SETTLEMENT NEWS:

U.S. Judge OKs Bristol-Myers $125 Million Plavix Settlement
Jonathan Stempel

Reuters. August 19, 2009
_________________________________________________________________________

EXCERPT: A federal judge has granted preliminary approval for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co […] to pay $125 million to resolve a shareholder lawsuit accusing it of hiding information related to a case involving its anti-blood clotting medication Plavix. Judge Paul Crotty of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan endorsed the class-action settlement on Tuesday, calling it "fair, reasonable and adequate to the class." He scheduled a Dec. 8 hearing to consider final approval. According to court papers, New York-based Bristol-Myers in March 2006 entered a settlement that allowed Canada's Apotex Inc to make a generic version of Plavix. Yet investors complained that Bristol-Myers failed to disclose secret side agreements with Apotex, and the settlement limited its ability to recover damages and enforce its patent rights. The settlement would have delayed Apotex's sale of generic versions of Plavix. Shares of Bristol-Myers fell during the summer of 2006 after a federal criminal antitrust probe was launched and the company revealed more details about the settlement. Bristol-Myers ousted Chief Executive Peter Dolan in September of that year. Plavix, whose chemical name is clopidogrel bisulfate, is the world's second-best selling drug after Pfizer Inc's […] cholesterol treatment Lipitor. France's Sanofi-Aventis SA […] sells Plavix outside the United States. The lead plaintiff in the Bristol-Myers class-action case is the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. A lawyer for the board, Salvatore Graziano, did not immediately return a request for a comment. Laura Hortas, a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers, said the company was pleased to settle. Bristol-Myers confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will review the Plavix patent following a request from Apotex. The patent is expected to expire in November 2011, although Bristol-Myers and Sanofi might win a six-month extension for conducting pediatric studies.

Back to News page | Back to Archived News 2009 page | Back to Top

�