Preliminary Approval Given To Bristol-Myers Holder Pacts
19 August 2009 - 9:53AM
Dow Jones News
A judge gave initial approval Tuesday to settlements of
shareholder litigation arising out of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s
(BMY) efforts in 2006 to end its long-running patent dispute with
Canadian drug maker Apotex Inc. over the popular blood thinner
Plavix.
In an order Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in
Manhattan granted preliminary approval to an agreement in principle
in which Bristol-Myers and its former chief executive would pay
$125 million to settle a consolidated shareholder action over
disclosures regarding its efforts to settle the Plavix litigation
in 2006. The pact was reached in May.
"Bristol-Myers Squibb is pleased to have reached this settlement
with plaintiffs and the company continues to focus on delivering
innovative medicines to help patients with serious disease," said
Laura Hortas, a Bristol-Myers spokeswoman.
The judge also initially signed off on an agreement in principle
to settle separate derivative litigation against Bristol's
directors over the board's actions concerning the company's efforts
to settle the Plavix patent fight. The derivative settlement was
reached in June.
Judge Crotty will hold a fairness hearing Dec. 8 on the
settlements, which were disclosed in a regulatory filing last
month.
In June 2007, Bristol-Myers pleaded guilty to two counts of
making false statements to the Federal Trade Commission regarding a
proposed settlement of the Plavix case and agreed to pay a $1
million fine.
The patent litigation ultimately went to trial and a federal
judge in June 2007 rejected Apotex's bid to invalidate a key U.S.
patent for the blood thinner, which runs through November 2011.
Apotex briefly had introduced a generic version of the drug in
August 2006 before a judge ordered a halt.
In June, Andrew Bodnar, a former Bristol-Myers executive, was
sentenced to probation and ordered to write a book about his
experience after he pleaded guilty to making a false statement
about the company's efforts to resolve the Plavix litigation.
-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017;
chad.bray@dowjones.com