Generic Drugmaker Impax To Settle Opioid Antitrust Suit

Impax Laboratories on Tuesday said it had agreed to pay $145 million to resolve antitrust class claims that the drugmaker illegally schemed with Endo International Plc to delay launching a generic version of its Opana ER opioid painkiller.

The settlement resolving allegations brought by plaintiff drug distributors Value Drug Co and Meijer Inc came just weeks after a Chicago federal court jury rejected claims that Endo violated federal antitrust laws.

Impax, which had been a defendant, reached a deal in principle as the trial was set to start but did not publicly reveal the settlement’s terms then.

The preliminary deal is subject to review by U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago.

Class members will receive “substantial cash settlement payments,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in their Tuesday filing seeking court approval of the deal, “while putting the litigation against Impax to rest and avoiding the inherent risks of jury trial (as demonstrated by the verdict in favor of Endo) and potential appeals.”

Lead class attorneys, including Andrew Curley of Berger Montague and Bruce Gerstein of Garwin Gerstein & Fisher, on Wednesday did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

A lawyer for Impax, Devora Allon of Kirkland & Ellis, and a representative from the company, now owned by New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

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