HBSS reaches $103M settlement with Astra Zeneca

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (HBSS) today announced it has reached a proposed $103 million settlement with Astra Zeneca (AZ) (NYSE:AZN) on behalf of consumers and third party purchasers. The class-action lawsuit claimed Astra Zeneca inflated the Average Wholesale Price (AWP), which is used as a benchmark for almost all prescription drug sales in the United States.

“This settlement is such a case; we are putting millions of dollars back in the pockets of consumers.”

Astra Zeneca agreed to pay $103 million in two different but related settlements stemming from claims brought by HBBS. The settlement adds to a series of victories and verdicts in the AWP cases filed by HBSS that has returned hundreds of million dollars to consumers and third-party payers from an array of pharmaceutical defendants.

This proposed settlement provides $13 million for two classes of plaintiffs: third-party payers who paid some or all of their insured's Medicare co-insurance for Zoladex and/or Pulmicort Respules in Massachusetts, and a second class that includes consumers and third-party payers who paid cash or a co-pay for these AZ drugs outside of Medicare in Massachusetts.

The settlement also provides $90 million to class members in the US outside Massachusetts who purchased these drugs and fit the same class descriptions.

In both the national settlement and the Massachusetts settlement, consumers will receive 11 percent of the settlement fund with the balance going to third-party payers.

These settlements follow a trial of Massachusetts's claims resulting in a verdict for the Massachusetts plaintiffs in November 2007. AZ appealed that verdict to the First Circuit. In September 2009 the First Circuit rejected AZ's appeal, leading to the settlement of both Massachusetts claims and national claims.

"We began working on AWP cases nearly a decade ago, and over those 10 years we have made lasting positive change in the way big drug companies market and price their products," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. "This settlement is such a case; we are putting millions of dollars back in the pockets of consumers."

The proposed settlement will need court approval before it becomes final. A court date has yet to be set.

SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP