The settlement is one of the last from a years-long investigation by the US Department of Justice into generics manufacturers on suspicion of illegal price fixing.
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The generics specialist Sandoz is resolving a long-standing antitrust litigation. Formerly a division of Novartis from which it spun off last October, Sandoz has reached a settlement with the plaintiff group in a lawsuit that has been ongoing for years.
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Sandoz will pay the group of direct sellers $265 million (CHF301 million), the Basel-based company announced on Thursday. In return, the plaintiff group, which consists of US direct sellers such as CVS and Walgreens, will drop all claims. This is now subject to the approval of the court.
The settlement is one of the last from a years-long investigation by the US Department of Justice into generics manufacturers on suspicion of illegal price fixing. An agreement had already been reached with the US Department of Justice in 2020, in which Sandoz paid almost $200 million. At the time of the agreement in 2020, Sandoz was still part of Novartis.
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Novartis plans to offload Sandoz in fourth quarter of 2023
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The pharmaceutical firm plans to buy back as much as $15 billion (CHF12.88 billion) in shares as it prepares to spin off its Sandoz generics unit.
With the agreement now reached, which does not contain any admission of wrongdoing by Sandoz US, all claims for damages by the group of direct purchasers will be settled, Sandoz further announced. The agreement also includes a release of claims relating to alleged conduct between 2009 and 2019 and to all drugs that are the subject of the direct purchaser class actions.
The $265 million will reportedly be recognised in the company’s financial results for 2023.
Translated from German by DeepL/amva
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