Heim, Payne Chorush LLP Helps Clients Secure Multimillion-Dollar Antitrust Settlement
Heim, Payne & Chorush LLP recently assisted a class of pharmaceutical purchasers in securing final approval of a multimillion-dollar settlement in a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit heard in Illinois federal court.
The Hon. Judge Harry D. Lienenweber in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved the $145 million settlement agreement on November 3, 2022, as well as a $50 million award of attorneys’ fees to the legal teams, including Heim Payne & Chorush. The class will receive nearly $100 million. The case is In Re Opana ER Antitrust Litigation, Civ. No. 14-cv-10150 (N.D. Ill.).
Firm partner Russell Chorush successfully represented the group of direct purchasers in securing the settlement. The purchasers claimed they overpaid for the prescription opioid painkiller Opana ER based on a reverse-payment agreement between Pennsylvania-based Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its would-be competitor, California-based Impax Laboratories Inc.
The final judgment covers all “persons or entities in the United States and its territories, including Puerto Rico, who purchased brand or generic Opana ER 5, 10, 20, 30, and/or 40 mg tablets directly from Defendants at any time during the period from April 1, 2011 until August 31, 2017 (the ‘Class’).”
The $145 million antitrust settlement resolved every remaining claim against Impax Laboratories, Inc. that had been asserted in the Opana ER Antitrust Litigation by the direct purchaser class members.