’Tis the season to resolve long-standing litigation in the U.S.
A week after Johnson & Johnson moved to resolve claims that its Johnson’s Baby Powder caused ovarian cancer, Novartis’ generics and biosimilars spinout Sandoz is plotting its own escape from long-running U.S. litigation, this time tied to antitrust allegations.
In a pair of deals announced Monday, Sandoz said it had agreed to settle generic drug pricing claims brought by 43 U.S. states and territories. If approved, the agreement would resolve all remaining federal or state governmental claims against the company in the matter, Sandoz said in an Aug. 3 release.
Sandoz would pay $400 million over seven years beginning in 2027, plus an additional $50 million to states that previously settled related claims.
Separately, the company entered into a second settlement agreement, offering $28.5 million to a putative class of indirect reseller plaintiffs, including retail pharmacies, clinics, hospitals and other entities that resold Sandoz’s generic medicines.
In both instances, Sandoz stressed that the agreements do not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.
The long-standing litigation centers on allegations that Sandoz participated in generic drug price-fixing between 2009 and 2019.
The latest agreements follow a string of settlement moves by Sandoz and, before the company’s October 2023 spinout, former parent Novartis. Together, the deals position Sandoz to “have resolved all pending class actions in the US generic antitrust litigation, as well as all claims filed by any US federal or state government,” the company said Monday.
In February 2024, shortly after striking out on its own, Sandoz put forward $265 million to settle with certain purchasers in the litigation it inherited from Novartis, inking a similarly sized deal addressing end purchasers in December that same year.
Novartis similarly pledged nearly $400 million between 2020 and 2021, with those deals bound to industry-wide price-fixing allegations between 2013 and 2015.
Sandoz stressed in its release that the settlements will not weigh on its financial expectations for 2026 or the company’s mid-term outlook. Additionally, if the new settlements are approved, the only remaining antitrust claims Sandoz will still face in the U.S. stem from individual plaintiffs who opted out of class settlements.
Sandoz noted that this litigation involves “different types of parties” with cases “in different stages,” but the company nevertheless pledged to continue defending itself vigorously through the process.
In another pharma clearing event this summer, J&J late last month revealed that it is also on the way to resolving long-running litigation in the U.S., in a case tied to claims that the company’s talc-based products caused cancer.
To effectively end the U.S. litigation, J&J has proposed a $5.5 billion settlement, which, if approved, the New Jersey pharma would start paying out in 2027. J&J has continuously challenged claims that its talc products contained asbestos or caused cancer.