AWP class action court ruling

Executive Summary

U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris rules in a class action lawsuit that AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Schering-Plough subsidiary Warrick acted "unfairly and deceptively" by publishing false and inflated average wholesale prices for their drugs. She dismissed claims against Johnson & Johnson, although she said the company's conduct "was at times troubling." The class action, filed on behalf of two groups of third-party payers, is among more than 90 cases consolidated in multidistrict litigation, In Re Average Wholesale Price Litigation (1"The Pink Sheet" Feb. 12, 2007, p. 23). Saris, a judge for the District Court in Boston, determined damages for one group in the class and said additional information is needed to set damages for the second. She found damages of $4.5 million for AstraZeneca and $183,454 for BMS, and found Warrick's damages for its albuterol pricing are limited to the second group. GlaxoSmithKline settled all claims and AstraZeneca settled claims involving Medicare beneficiaries...