Current Role
  • Partner & Management Committee Member, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
  • Ms. Johnson’s work at the firm – including contributing to two back-to-back 2021 settlements totaling more than $450 million each – focuses on rigorously combating waste, fraud and pricing abuse in the pharmaceutical industry, and she has been instrumental in new case investigation work in this area of law.
Recent Cases
  • In re: Ranbaxy Generic Drug Application Antitrust Litigation, 1:19-md-02878, D. Mass.: Court-appointed co-lead counsel in RICO and antitrust litigation against Ranbaxy and Sun, alleging that Ranbaxy fraudulently obtained a series of 180-day exclusivities that improperly blocked generic versions of Diovan, Nexium and Valcyte from coming to market for years.
  • In re Zetia Antitrust Litigation, 2:18-md-2836, E.D. Va., ECF No. 105: Court-appointed co-lead counsel and counsel for large national wholesalers in multidistrict litigation alleging brand company Merck and generic company Glenmark struck an anticompetitive pay-for-delay agreement to resolve patent-infringement litigation over the drug Zetia. Trial is set for April 2023.
Recent Success
  • As court-appointed co-lead counsel in RICO and antitrust litigation against Ranbaxy and Sun, Ms. Johnson successfully argued against summary judgment and helped negotiate a proposed global $485 million settlement ($340 million for the direct purchaser classes) on the eve of trial. The litigation alleged Ranbaxy fraudulently obtained a series of 180-day exclusivities that blocked generic versions of Diovan, Nexium and Valcyte from coming to market for years. The final approval hearing is set for September 8, 2022. In re: Ranbaxy Generic Drug Application Antitrust Litigation, 1:19-md-02878, D. Mass. (Gorton, J., Kelley, J.).
  • She served as a member of the Hagens Berman team that litigated antitrust claims on behalf of a proposed class of direct purchasers of brand and generic Glumetza, which resulted in a $453.85 million settlement for the direct purchasers. The litigation alleged that generic company Lupin agreed to delay its launch of a generic form of Valeant’s extended-release metformin product in exchange for Valeant’s promise not to launch a competing generic product. In re Glumetza Antitrust Litigation, 3:19-cv-05822, N.D. Cal. (Alsup, J.).
  • She served as court-appointed interim lead/liaison class counsel for the proposed direct purchaser class and helped negotiate a $51.25 million settlement with defendant Allergan in In re Restasis Antitrust Litigation. This multidistrict litigation alleged Allergan engaged in an anticompetitive scheme including abuse of the FDA’s petitioning process to delay generic versions of Restasis from coming to market. In re Restasis (Cyclosporine Opthalmic Emulsion) Antitrust Litigation, E.D.N.Y, 18-md-2819 (Gershon J.).
  • Ms. Johnson is also involved in the firm’s work combating criminally high prices of insulin. In Lantus, the First Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of antitrust litigation premised on wrongfully listing patents covering insulin injector pens in FDA’s Orange Book. In re Lantus Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, 18-cv-2086, 1st Cir., Feb. 13, 2020 (Dein, J., Sorokin, J.).
  • As co-lead counsel for the certified class of direct purchasers, she directed Hagens Berman’s litigation efforts and ran the patent team up to trial in In re Loestrin 24 Fe Antitrust Litigation. The parties reached a proposed $120 million settlement shortly before trial. In re Loestrin 24 Fe Antitrust Litigation, 1:13-md-02472, D.R.I., ECF Nos. 10, 1050 (Smith, J., Sullivan, J.).
Recognition
  • Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Plaintiff Financial Lawyers (2023)
  • Boston’s Rising Star, The National Law Journal, 2014 – 2015. Honored as one of 40 outstanding lawyers under 40.
  • Trial Lawyer of the Year, Public Justice, 2011. Nominated with the Neurontin trial team for securing a $142 million verdict against Pfizer for suppressing and manipulating the results of scientific studies that showed Neurontin did not work to treat the off-label indications Pfizer was heavily promoting.
Notable Cases
  • Member of the trial team that achieved a $142 million civil RICO verdict against Pfizer for suppressing and manipulating results of scientific studies concerning the drug Neurontin. Post-trial, the third-party payer class settled with Pfizer for an additional $325 million. In re Neurontin Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, D. Mass., MDL No. 1629 (Saris, J.).
  • During the nascent stages of this MDL, the court personally appointed Ms. Johnson liaison counsel to speak for the hundreds of victims who contracted fungal meningitis or suffered other serious health problems as a result of receiving contaminated products made and sold by NECC. She was later appointed co-lead counsel. The case resulted in a $189+ million settlement on behalf of tort victims. In re New England Compounding Pharmacy Litigation Multidistrict Litigation, 12-md-2419, D. Mass. (Saylor, J., Zobel, J.)
  • $150 million settlement for the direct purchaser class in an antitrust case alleging GSK submitted a baseless petition to the FDA to delay the FDA’s approvals of generic versions of Flonase. In re Flonase Antitrust Litigation, E.D. Pa., 08-cv-3149 (Brody, J.) (team member).
  • $98 million settlement for the class of direct purchasers in an antitrust case alleging Astellas delayed generic entry of transplant antirejection drug Prograf by abusing the FDA’s petitioning process in In re Prograf Antitrust Litigation, D. Mass., MDL No. 2242 (Zobel, J.) (team member)
  • Serving as the court-appointed co-lead counsel, Ms. Johnson achieved a $94 million settlement for the certified class of direct purchasers in this antitrust case alleging Pfizer obtained reissuance of a follow-on patent by defrauding the Patent and Trademark Office in In re Celebrex (Celecoxib) Antitrust Litigation, 2:13-cv-361, E.D. Va., ECF Nos. 64, 455 (Wright, J., Miller, J.).
Personal Insight

Ms. Johnson grew up in a family law practice in Canfield, Ohio. Her grandfather, uncles, father, brother and sister practice(d) together and her mother ran the law office. Ms. Johnson’s career choice was perhaps inevitable, though she hopes her daughters will at least consider another profession.