After 10 years on the market, the Bristol Myers Squibb and Celgene blockbuster multiple myeloma treatment Pomalyst has landed in some legal hot water.
In a new lawsuit (PDF), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana claims Celgene used an illegal scheme to protect the drug's monopoly, causing purchasers to overpay by “hundreds of millions, if not billions” of dollars over the years.
BMS did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment. The company acquired Pomalyst in its $74 billion buyout of Celgene in 2019.
In the suit, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana says Celgene sought fraudulent patents, abused the federal judicial system and shared some of its “illicitly acquired” profits with generic drug makers to keep competition at bay.
Specifically, Celgene knowingly secured certain patents using information that was already in the public domain, Blue Cross argues. To protect these patents, Celgene initiated lawsuits against would-be generic competitors that had “no realistic likelihood of prevailing," according to the insurer.
To further protect its drug, Celgene paid generic companies in so-called "reverse payment" patent deals that reached "well into" the nine-figure range, the lawsuit says.
The insurer seeks a jury trial and repayment worth three times the amount of the alleged overcharges.
Pomalyst brought in $3.4 billion in sales last year. The drug was BMS' third-largest revenue driver behind fellow blockbusters Eliquis and Opdivo.