Sandoz, after inking a new settlement in a price-fixing case inherited from its former parent Novartis, says it’s taken an encouraging step on its quest to leave “allegations of legacy conduct” in the past.
Sandoz and its subsidiary Fougera Pharmaceuticals have reached a $265 million settlement with direct purchasers for a full release from antitrust allegations in Pennsylvania federal court. The settlement isn’t an admission of wrongdoing, Sandoz explained in a Thursday release.
The settlement absolves Sandoz of claims covering alleged conduct between 2009 and 2019, the company said. Individual direct purchasers from the class action have the right to opt out of the deal, which could reduce the settlement amount by up to 12%, or $31.8 million, Sandoz added.
With this settlement inked, Sandoz still faces two remaining cases in the multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing. Sandoz said it "continues to defend itself vigorously in those cases."
Sandoz emerged as a standalone company last October, splitting off from Novartis after more than a year of preparation.
Before that Novartis laid out nearly $400 million between 2020 and 2021 to settle similar price-fixing claims against its former generics and biosimilars unit.
Back in March of 2020, Novartis agreed to pay $195 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to settle federal claims it took part in an industry-wide price-fixing scheme between 2013 and 2015.
The settlement came two weeks after a former Sandoz unit executive pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges related to the scheme, which allegedly involved drugs like the topical steroid clobetasol and antifungal nystatin triamcinolone cream.
Late in 2021, Sandoz inked a related civil deal worth $185 million. The civil portion of the lawsuit related to alleged illegal payments the companies received for the sale of goods at rigged prices.
The agreements stemmed from an industrywide price-fixing probe around generic drugs, which also implicated companies such as Teva, Mylan, Lupin and Glenmark.