PHILADELPHIA, March 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
NastLaw LLC announces: If you
purchased certain named generic pharmaceutical drugs directly
from certain pharmaceutical manufacturers from
May 1, 2009 through December 31, 2019, your rights may be
affected by proposed class action settlements.
A federal court authorized this notice. This is not a
solicitation from a lawyer.
What is the lawsuit about? Three proposed
settlements have been reached in a class action lawsuit ("the
Lawsuit"), which alleges that Breckenridge Corp.,
Apotex Corp., and Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc.,
(collectively "Settling Defendants") and other generic drug
manufacturers violated the federal antitrust laws by conspiring to
fix, maintain, and stabilize prices, rig bids, and engage in market
and customer allocations of certain generic drugs (the "Named
Generic Drugs"), causing direct purchasers of the Named Generic
Drugs to pay more than they should have. The Settling Defendants,
who are defined to also include Emcure Pharmaceutical Ltd., the
owner of Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc and Satish Mehta, one of its owners, deny liability
as alleged in the Lawsuit. The Court has not decided
who is right. The proposed Settlements do not resolve any of the
claims of the Settlement Class against the remaining Defendants.
The Lawsuit against the remaining Defendants is ongoing.
Who is included? The Court has certified three Settlement
Classes, one Settlement Class for each proposed Settlement: (1) the
Breckenridge Settlement Class, (2) the Apotex Settlement Class, and
(3) the Heritage Settlement Class. Each Settlement Class
includes all persons or entities, and their successors and assigns,
that directly purchased one or more of the Named Generic Drugs from
one or more Current or Former Defendants in the United States and its territories and
possessions, at any time during the period from May 1, 2009 through December 31, 2019. Excluded from the Settlement
Classes are Current and Former Defendants and their present and
former officers, directors, management, employees, subsidiaries, or
affiliates, judicial officers and their personnel, and all
governmental entities. The Settlement Agreements listing the Named
Generic Drugs and Current and Former Defendants are available on
the settlement website: GenericDrugsDirectPurchaserSettlement.com.
The Settlement Agreements also are on public file with the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania,
601 Market Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19106 in the case In re: Generic Pharmaceuticals
Pricing Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 2:16-MD-02724.
What do the settlements provide? The proposed Settlements
provide for the following payments: (1) a $5,000,000.00 payment by the Settling Defendant
Breckenridge Corp.; (2) a
$30,000,000.00 payment from Settling
Defendant Apotex Corp.; and (3) a $10,000,000.00 payment from Settling Defendants
Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc., Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd., and
Satish Mehta. These payments will
comprise the total $45,000,000.00
"Settlement Fund." The Settlement Fund may be reduced by up
to $4,245,000.00 or increased to a
maximum of $55,735,294.10 under
certain circumstances as explained in the Settlement
Agreements. In addition, the Direct Purchaser Plaintiff
("DPP") attorneys who have worked on the Lawsuit for the Settlement
Classes will seek Court approval to pay expenses, and service
awards for the class representatives (or named plaintiffs) out of
the Settlement Fund. DPP attorneys will also request that the Court
set aside up to one third of the Settlement Fund plus a
proportionate amount of interest for a future request for
attorneys' fees. Any motion for expenses and service awards or for
a set aside for a future request for attorneys' fees will be posted
on the settlement website
GenericDrugsDirectPurchaserSettlement.com. no later than
May 13, 2024. The calculations of the
dollar amount that each Settlement Class Member will be paid from
the Settlement Fund are set forth in the Plan of Allocation, which
also is available
on GenericDrugsDirectPurchaserSettlement.com.
What are your options? If you are a Settlement Class
Member and you do nothing, you will remain in the Settlement
Classes and are eligible to participate in the Settlements as
described in this notice, if the Settlements are approved. However,
you will need to complete, sign, and return the claim forms (once
they are sent to you) in order to obtain a payment. We do not
know when the claim forms will be mailed. You should check
GenericDrugsDirectPurchaserSettlement.com for information regarding
timing. If you did not receive a Notice in the mail,
and you think you are a potential Settlement Class Member, please
identify yourself or your company by letter to the following
address: In re: Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust
Litigation – Direct Purchasers, c/o A.B. Data, Ltd., P.O. Box
173095, Milwaukee, WI 53217.
Or send an email to info@genericdrugsdirectpurchasersettlement.com,
or call 877-315-0583. You may be required to submit proof of a
qualifying direct purchase to establish that you are a member of
the Settlement Classes. Claimants may also be required to submit
purchase data as part of the claims process. As a Settlement Class
Member, unless you opt out of the Settlements, you will be bound by
all orders and judgments of the Court.
In addition, if you are a Settlement Class Member you may
request exclusion from (or opt out of) one or more of the
Settlements and may object to the Settlements if you do not opt
out. Instructions for opting-out or objecting can be found in
the publicly available case file and website, as described
above. You must mail your request to opt out or your
objection by June 27, 2024. The Court
will hold a Fairness Hearing on September
23rd, 2024, to decide whether to approve the Settlements and
any requests for expenses and service awards for the class
representatives and for a set-aside for a future request for
attorneys' fees. The Court will also consider a Plan of Allocation
for distributing the Settlement Fund to Settlement Class Members.
If there are objections, the Court will consider them at the
hearing. You do not need to attend the hearing. If you
wish to appear at the hearing, you must file a "Notice of Intention
to Appear" with the Court and you may hire your own attorney to
appear in Court for you at your own expense.
For more information: Go to the website:
GenericDrugsDirectPurchaserSettlement.com or call 877-315-0583 for
more information on the settlement, the lawsuit, and your potential
rights and options related to the settlement. The website includes,
for example, a list of the generic drugs that you would have had to
purchase and a list of the generic manufacturers that you would
have had to purchase directly from in order to be
eligible for a payment.
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/direct-purchaser-plaintiffs-announce-additional-settlements-in-in-re-generic-pharmaceutical-pricing-antitrust-litigation-302100170.html
SOURCE NastLaw LLC