Today, Judge William G. Young of the District of Massachusetts certified a class of end-payors in the In re Nexium (Esomeprazole) Antitrust Litigation case. In this case, plaintiffs seek damages for injuries suffered due to anticompetitive conduct by AstraZeneca, Ranbaxy, Teva, and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
Plaintiffs allege that Defendants conspired to unlawfully delay generic competition for the blockbuster proton pump inhibitor, Nexium. The certified class includes third party payors and certain consumers which purchased Nexium and its generic (once available) from April 14, 2008 through and until the anticompetitive effects of Defendants’ unlawful conduct cease in: Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. To read the full class certification opinion, click here.
The Court appointed Kenneth A. Wexler co-lead counsel for the end-payor class; he is joined by Steve Shadowen of Hilliard Shadowen LLC, J. Douglas Richards of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, and Jayne Goldstein of Pomerantz Grossman Hufford Dahlstrom & Gross LLP.