Case Caption: In re Vascepa Antitrust Litigation Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs
Court: United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
Case Number: 21-cv-12061-ZNQ
Judge: Honorable Zahid Quraishi
Plaintiff: Welfare Plan of The International Union of Operating Engineers Locals 137, 137A, 137B, 137C, 137R; Local 464A United Food and Commercial Workers Union Welfare Service Benefit Fund; Uniformed Fire Officers Association Family Protection Plan Local 854; Uniformed Fire Officers Association for Retired F
Defendant: Amarin Pharma, Inc., Amarin Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited, and Amarin Corporation PLC
Plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint alleging that, having pursued and lost patent infringement litigation against would-be generic competitors as well as exhausting every regulatory means to prevent and delay the launch of generic competitors, Amarin adopted an unlawful strategy to artificially extend its monopoly for its sole product Vascepa. By locking up every viable supplier of the key ingredient needed to manufacture generic Vascepa, Amarin boxed generic manufacturers out of the market. This scheme left Amarin free to continue charging supracompetitive prices and obtain the most profit it could out of Vascepa, at the expense of the Plaintiffs and other purchasers of the drug.
Amarin filed a motion to dismiss the consolidated complaint in the fall of 2021. On February 23, 2023, the Court dismissed, without prejudice, certain of the unjust enrichment and consumer protection claims, but otherwise sustained the claims. Defendants filed their answer to the consolidated complaint on March 31, 2023. Discovery commenced thereafter and proceeded in coordination with that served by direct purchaser plaintiffs and generic manufacturers that have filed their own suits against Amarin for anticompetitive conduct.
On August 30, 2024, Plaintiffs filed a motion seeking leave to amend to add KD Pharma and related entities as defendants, which the Court granted on April 30, 2025. Plaintiffs thereafter filed a Second Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint. Discovery in connection with all of the coordinated cases remains ongoing.