Allergan’s Motion to dismiss was denied on September 18, 2018. Discovery and expert reports were completed in December 2019. The direct purchaser class plaintiffs are currently seeking preliminary approval of a $51.25 million settlement with Allergan before the Court.
The court appointed HBSS interim lead counsel of a proposed class of direct purchasers of the Allergan, Inc. dry-eye emulsion, Restasis. The purchasers allege the following that Allergan fraudulently obtained a series of patents for Restasis by misrepresenting that clinical trials newly showed that a lower strength Restasis formulation worked better than a stronger version. After securing these patents through fraud, Allergan then wrongly enforced those patents by listing them in the FDA’s Orange Book and filing sham litigations against potential generic competitors. Allergan also tried to circumvent the judicial process by selling its patent rights to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe (which immediately licensed the patents back to Allergan) and claiming tribal immunity. Lastly, Allergan filed a series of sham citizen petitions with FDA asserting that FDA’s standards for ANDA approval were insufficient. These petitions delayed FDA from reviewing generic Restasis ANDAs and caused the approval of generic Restasis to be delayed.
On September 18, 2018, the Court denied Allergan’s Motion to Dismiss the purchasers’ complaint for failure to allege causation. Discovery and expert reports were completed in December 2019.
The direct purchaser class plaintiffs are currently seeking preliminary approval of a $51.25 million settlement with Allergan before the District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
CASE TIMELINE
Judge Nina Gershon has granted the distribution of the net settlement fund to direct purchaser plaintiffs, ordering that $51.25 million in settlements be awarded to the class.
The direct purchaser class plaintiffs are currently seeking preliminary approval of a $51.25 million settlement with Allergan before the District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Motion to dismiss was denied on September 18, 2018. The parties are currently negotiating discovery responses and document review is ongoing.
After several direct and indirect purchaser cases were consolidated in the Eastern District of New York, direct purchasers filed their consolidated amended class action complaint on April 4, 2018.
