AbbVie Investors Win Class Action Status in Humira Kickback Case

AbbVie Inc. must face a certified class action over its alleged scheme to inflate its stock price by misleading the public about the role kickbacks played in the success of its blockbuster arthritis drug Humira, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Monday.

Judge Charles R. Norgle Sr. conferred class action status on the securities fraud case, which is moving forward in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The lawsuit, filed in 2018, accuses the pharmaceutical giant of sending its own nurses to “assist” prescribing physicians—by marketing the drug to them and downplaying its risks—while letting patients ...