Toprol Antitrust Litigation

Plaintiffs allege that Defendants violated federal antitrust laws by engaging in an unlawful scheme to delay or block the market entry of less expensive, generic versions of Toprol-XL. Plaintiffs allege that this unlawful scheme involved: (1) improperly obtaining Patent Nos. 5,001,161 (the "'161 Patent") and 5,081,154 (the "'154 Patent) through knowing and willful fraud by making false and misleading representations to the Patent and Trademark Office (the "PTO") which, in the absence of the fraud, would not have issued the '161 or '154 Patents; (2) making a sham listing of the '161 and '154 Patents in the "Orange Book", a document maintained by the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"); and (3) filing and pursuing sham litigation against potential generic competitors. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants' conduct violated the antitrust laws, and delayed the availability of less expensive, generic versions of Toprol-XL. Plaintiffs further allege that they and the other members of the Class were injured as a result of the Defendants' illegal acts by paying more for extended release metoprolol succinate products than they would have paid otherwise and/or from being unable to purchase less expensive, generic versions of extended release metoprolol succinate.

The Defendants deny all these allegations, including that any Plaintiff or Class Member is entitled to damages or other relief. The Settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by any of the Defendants. No trial has been held.

Following investigation of relevant facts and extensive negotiations with the Defendants, the class representatives (defined below), on behalf of the class, entered into a Settlement Agreement with the Defendants. The terms of the Settlement, which is subject to final approval by the Court, are set forth in written Settlement Agreement dated as of September 23, 2011 (the "Settlement Agreement"). The Settlement Agreement provides that AZ will pay $20 million in cash to the Class in exchange for a release of all claims against the Released Parties (as defined in the Settlement Agreement) related to the conduct alleged in the Class Action. Defendants have also agreed to pay the costs of administration of notice and distribution of the Settlement Fund up to $750,000.00.

Read More (PDF: 240.7 KB)

Contact us for more information