Sandoz Pays $265 Million to Resolve Partial Antitrust Claims in Price Fixing Lawsuits

1. Swiss generic drugmaker Sandoz has agreed to pay $265 million to settle a pricing antitrust case in the United States.
2. Sandoz, now independent since separating from Novartis in October 2023, faced accusations of engaging in price-fixing schemes between 2009 and 2019.
3. The settlement involves a class of direct purchaser plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation titled "In re Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation" in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
4. The settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Sandoz.
5. Previously, in March 2020, Sandoz had been charged with participating in four conspiracies to suppress and eliminate competition by agreeing to allocate customers, rig bids, and fix prices for generic drugs between 2013 and 2015.
6. Sandoz entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on March 2, 2020, where they agreed to pay a $195 million criminal penalty and admitted that their sales were affected by the charged offenses.
7. The current settlement covers claims involving alleged conduct between 2009 and 2019, and includes a broad release of claims related to all medicines related to the direct purchaser class claims.
8. Individual direct purchasers can opt out of the deal, which could reduce the settlement amount by up to 12% ($31.8 million).
9. Sandoz continues to face two remaining cases in the multidistrict litigation and maintains that it will defend itself vigorously in these cases.