On November 22, 2021, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor of the District of New Jersey approved the parties’ settlement in In re Allergan Generic Drug Pricing Securities Litigation, No. 2:16-9449 (KSH) (D.N.J), a long-running securities fraud class action first filed in 2017. The $130 million recovery is the first settlement of a federal securities case arising out of the industrywide generic drug price-fixing scandal which first came to light a half decade ago when Congress launched an investigation into the historic increases in generic drug prices. The price-fixing conspiracy, led by Allergan and several other drug makers, is believed to be the largest domestic pharmaceutical cartel in U.S. history.
For four years, a team of Kessler Topaz litigators prosecuted these claims from the initial investigation and drafting of the complaint through full fact discovery and class certification proceedings. The complaint, filed on behalf of Lead Plaintiff Sjunde-AP Fonden, one of Sweden’s largest pension funds, alleged that Allergan played a central role in the scheme to rig bids, allocate customers, and fix prices in the generic drug market. The complaint further alleged that Allergan and its senior officers publicly denied the existence of anticompetitive conduct, concealed the company’s participation in the cartel, and misrepresented the nature and sustainability of increased drug prices in a series of SEC filings, earnings calls, and investor conferences over the course of a three-year class period. These misrepresentations served to inflate Allergan’s stock price until the allegations of collusion were revealed, causing massive investor losses.
The Kessler Topaz team representing the shareholder class included Matthew Mustokoff, Margaret Mazzeo, Geoffrey Jarvis, Jonathan Neumann, and Nathaniel Simon.