Buchanan Antitrust Litigation Team Secures Full Dismissal of Pharmaceutical Multi-Class Action

NEW YORK (April 2023) – Pharmaceutical manufacturer and Buchanan client Hetero recently prevailed in a multi-class and multi-defendant antitrust class action in the Southern District of New York. After more than a year of joint motion to dismiss briefings and argument, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman of the Southern District dismissed all claims with prejudice against Hetero and a substantial number of other pharmaceutical manufacturer defendants. Hetero was represented by a Buchanan team of life sciences and antitrust litigators led by Jonathan Janow, shareholder in the firm’s litigation section.  

In this case, direct and indirect purchasers of generic versions of the hypertension drug Bystolic, including drug wholesalers, retailers, and employee benefit funds, filed class action and opt-out complaints against eight pharmaceutical manufacturer defendants. The plaintiffs alleged that the manufacturers conspired to delay competition for generic forms of hypertension drug Bystolic by entering into reverse payment agreements taking the form of business “side deals” tied to the settlement of patent litigation. The district court, however, concluded that the plaintiffs’ factual allegations failed to show that the business arrangements were large and unjustified payments made to purchase a delay in the entry of generic Bystolic. 

The case and Judge Liman’s decision was featured in a Law360 article entitled “Bystolic 'Side Deals' Deemed Legit, Not Generic Delay Plans.”