Class Certification Denied for Payers’ RICO Suit Over Sanofi’s Safety Claims

A federal court in New York agreed with a magistrate judge’s recommendations and denied class certification to third-party payers (TPP) who charged that Sanofi-aventis’s false and misleading claims over a drug’s efficacy and safety caused harm to the putative class (Sergeants Benevolent Association Health and Welfare Fund v. Sanofi-aventis US LLP, E.D.N.Y., 1:08-cv-00179-SLT-RER, 3/30/11).

The ruling is another blow to payer classes pursuing claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and follows the lead of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in UFCW Local 1776 v. Eli Lilly and Co. ...