Sun Pharmaceutical Prevails in Antitrust Suit Over Lipitor Drug

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has prevailed in multidistrict litigation accusing the company of conspiring with Pfizer Inc. to delay the generic version of blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor.

Judge Peter G. Sheridan of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey in a Thursday order granted Sun’s motion to end the case, saying the purchaser plaintiffs couldn’t show an alleged anti-competitive settlement with Pfizer caused any generic delay. He also denied class certification to indirect and direct purchaser plaintiffs, including retailers, wholesalers, health insurance companies and consumers.

The ruling ends multidistrict litigation dating back over a decade and hands a win to Sun in a case involving an alleged deal in which Pfizer illegally paid pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories, a Sun affiliate, to delay generic versions of Lipitor until November 2011. Plaintiffs sued, saying they paid more for the cholesterol-lowering drug than they should have.

Sheridan said in his order there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the US Food and Drug Administration would have approved Ranbaxy’s generic Lipitor earlier than Nov. 30, 2011.

“Indeed, the evidence presented to the court is that FDA may have been able to do so,” he said.

Pfizer settled claims against it in April, but Sun continued to litigate, arguing that Ranbaxy’s manufacturing plants in India faced regulatory challenges that prevented the FDA from reviewing and approving its generic Lipitor product to launch any sooner than it actually did in November 2011.

Sheridan also found that indirect purchasers didn’t have a reliable and feasible method to determine who was qualified to be a class member. He also denied class status to a group of direct purchasers such as wholesalers, saying that they failed to prove that the proposed class was so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.

Sun Pharmaceuticals is represented by firms including Kirkland and Ellis. The plaintiffs are represented by firms including Carella Byrne Cecchi Brody and Agnello and Hagens Berman.

The case is In re Lipitor Antitrust Litig., D.N.J., No. 3:12-cv-2389, 6/6/24.