$454 Million Dollar Diabetes Medication Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval

Tuesday, October 26, 2021 6:10 AM By FPS

800% Price-Hike During Alleged Pay-For-Delay Scheme

Direct Purchasers of the diabetes drug Glumetza won preliminary approval from a federal judge in San Francisco for settlements worth $454 million, resolving claims that Bausch Health Cos., Lupin Ltd., and Assertio Therapeutics Inc. delayed the rollout of generic versions.


In September, Judge William Alsup signed off tentatively on the trio of deals disclosed over the previous weeks in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, canceling a class action antitrust trial that was set to start Oct. 4.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to approve the settlement, said the deal amounts to one of the largest recoveries in a direct-purchaser class lawsuit in a reverse payment case.

Glumetza is an extended-release version of the drug Metformin. It was approved by the USFDA in 2005 and originally sold to Depomed Inc, now called Assertio. Depomed Inc. marketed the drug with Santarus Inc, which Bausch Health later acquired.


Direct purchasers of Glumetza sued Bausch, Lupin, Assertio, and others in 2019 for unlawfully hiking drug prices from its fair value of less than $55 for a 30-day supply to more than $3,000 for the brand-name drug and $2,200 for generics,

Bausch Health (former name Valeant) has agreed to pay $300 million to settle claims that the Canadian drugmaker paid off its generic rivals nearly a decade ago. Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc has agreed to pay $150 million to settle claims brought by a group of grocery stores, drug stores and other direct buyers of the diabetes drug Glumetza for its role in the alleged "pay-for-delay" scheme that supposedly raised the drug's price by nearly 800%, according to a filing in San Francisco federal court.

Depomed sued Lupin in 2009 after it applied for FDA approval of a generic version of Glumetza, alleging the generic would infringe its patents. The parties settled in 2012, with Lupin delaying its generic until 2016 in exchange for a payment and an agreement for the Glumetza makers not to compete with Lupin's generic with their own authorized generic during its market-exclusivity period.


Financial Power Services, LLC (FPS) is assisting members of the Direct Purchaser class with refund claim management and filing services on this settlement.

About FPS...

Financial Power Services (FPS) is a financial consulting and claims management firm; we are not a court appointed claims administrator or class counsel.  When you retain FPS to manage your settlement refund claim, your company will be assigned a dedicated FPS Account Manager who will always be available to answer any questions you may have. They will work within your guidelines to manage the claim filing process, and can provide record retention advice that may enhance the value of your claim. 


When you retain FPS to manage and file your settlement refund claim, FPS will:

  • Prepare, assemble and submit your claim package, and manage it throughout the claims processing phase, including working with you to address any concerns or questions the claims administrator may have.
  • Perform research to assure that all of your eligible business units (e.g., subsidiaries, divisions, acquisitions and divestitures) are included in the claim process.
  • Provide advice on what, if any, documents need to be collected and maintained, and, when requested, we will assist in that effort.
  • Reduce the support needed from your in-house staff, when required documents are not available or are too burdensome to collect, and we will negotiate on your behalf to develop alternate means to satisfy the documentation requirements.
  • Provide regular updates on the recovery process and all related developments.
  • Audit your payment to assure that it has not been under calculated.
  • Follow up with you to assure that your recovery check is deposited. 
  • Notify you when we learn of additional valuable settlements in which you may be eligible to participate.

To see if your business is eligible, contact us. If you would like to retain FPS to manage your claim on this settlement, click here.

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