A California federal judge gave final approval to two settlements of class actions alleging that Teikoku, Endo and Actavis violated antitrust laws by stalling the release of a generic form of the Lidoderm pain patch. One class actin was on behalf of direct purchasers and settled for $166 million. The other was on behalf of end payors and settled for $104.75 million.
End payors included employee health and welfare benefit plans, unions or individuals who purchased the drug from third parties. The direct purchaser plaintiffs included pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacies, hospitals and retail stores that purchased patches and supplied them to others.
The settlements cover anyone who purchased brand or generic Lidoderm between August 2012 and May 2014, when an authorized generic version finally came online after having allegedly been delayed by seven and a half months.
The case is In re Lidoderm Antitrust Litigation, case number 3:14-md-02521, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.
