Current Cases

In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation

Status Current Case

Practice area Antitrust

Court U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

Case number 3:12-cv-02389

Overview

On June 3, 2024, the Honorable Peter G. Sheridan of the United States District Court for District of New Jersey granted the End-Payor Plaintiffs preliminary approval of a $35 million settlement against Pfizer for its role in an anticompetitive scheme to delay competition from less-expensive generic versions of the blockbuster cholesterol drug, Lipitor.

Cohen Milstein was appointed Co-Lead Counsel of a proposed class of End-Payor Plaintiffs on July 31, 2012 and Sharon K. Robertson, of Cohen Milstein, was appointed Co-Lead Counsel on April 3, 2017 (ECF No. 647).

In July 2017, Law360 recognized In re: Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, as one of the biggest competition cases of the year to watch.

Other Key Rulings

  • Although originally dismissed by the District Court, on August 21, 2017, the Third Circuit handed a sweeping victory to buyers by reviving their antitrust claims. The appellate panel found the lawsuits in the multidistrict litigation plausibly alleged various ploys to artificially inflate the costs of Lipitor to make it past the dismissal stage.
  • On remand, on August 21, 2018, the proposed End-Payor Class defeated, in large part, Defendants’ motion to dismiss certain state law claims. 
  • On July 16, 2020, the Honorable Douglas E. Arpert for the United States District Court, District of New Jersey ordered that all plaintiff cases be consolidated as In Re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:12-cv-02389 (D.N.J.)

Case Background

The case alleges that Pfizer and its predecessors and affiliates engaged in an overarching anticompetitive scheme to delay competition from less-expensive generic versions of the blockbuster drug, Lipitor.  The complaint alleges that the scheme included defrauding the United States Patent and Trademark Office, filing a baseless FDA petition, and conspiring with the first generic ANDA filer, Ranbaxy, not to enter the market until 2011.  Plaintiffs allege that the scheme caused purchasers to be deprived of a less-expensive generic version of Lipitor and thus resulted in overcharges of close to a billion dollars. Violations of various state laws are alleged against both the Pfizer entities and Ranbaxy.

Name of original case: Burlington Drug Co., Inc., et al. v. Pfizer, et al., Case No. 3:12-cv-02389 (D.N.J.)