sun pharmaceutical industries ltd: Sun Pharma’s 2 US arms to pay USD 85 mn in settlement pacts over antritrust litigation

New Delhi: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Friday said two of its US-based subsidiaries have inked settlement pacts with the direct purchaser plaintiffs in the matter of generic pharmaceuticals pricing antitrust litigation in the US and will pay a total of USD 85 million for the full release of claims against them. “Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. have signed settlement agreements with the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs in the In re Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation that has been taking place in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S.A. for some time,” Sun Pharma said in a regulatory filing.

Under the terms of the settlement agreements, the subsidiaries will make an aggregate payment amounting to a combined total of USD 85 million in exchange for a full release of all claims asserted against them in the direct purchaser action by the settlement class members, it added.

The settlement payment amounts will be reduced by USD 10 million if the direct purchasers that opt out of the putative class collectively account for 20 per cent or more of Taro’s and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc’s aggregate dollar sales of the generic pharmaceutical products at issue in the direct purchaser action, Sun Pharma said.

“The full amount of the payments under the settlement agreements have already been provided for in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s prior consolidated financial results. The settlement agreements were entered into without admission of any wrongdoing in the Direct Purchaser Action,” it added.

The settlement agreements are subject to court approval, Sun Pharma said.