Lipitor Antitrust Litigation

The consumers and third-party payors who brought the lawsuit (the “Plaintiffs”) allege that Pfizer and Ranbaxy (collectively, “Defendants”) violated certain state antitrust, consumer protection, and unjust enrichment laws by taking several actions to keep generic versions of Lipitor off the market. This harmed competition and caused Class Members to overpay for branded Lipitor and generic atorvastatin calcium.

Plaintiffs allege that Pfizer fraudulently obtained a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and used that patent to wrongfully sue manufacturers that were applying to make, use, or sell generic versions of Lipitor, in order to delay generic versions of Lipitor from coming to market. Plaintiffs claim that Pfizer then settled those lawsuits by agreeing to pay the generic manufacturers if they agreed to delay selling their generic versions of Lipitor.

Plaintiffs further allege that Pfizer and Ranbaxy entered into an unlawful market-allocation agreement, in which Pfizer paid generic manufacturer Ranbaxy to delay entering the U.S. market with its generic version of Lipitor. Ranbaxy agreed to certain other measures that had the intended effect of delaying market entry of other would-be generic Lipitor manufacturers.

Defendants deny these allegations, including that Plaintiffs or Class Members are entitled to damages or other relief.

There has been no determination by the Court or a jury that the allegations against Defendants have been proven or that, if proven, Defendants’ conduct caused harm to the Classes. The Notice is not an expression of any opinion by the Court as to the claims against Defendants or their defenses. Judge Peter G. Sheridan of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is overseeing this class action and the settlement. The lawsuit is known as In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, Civil Action No. 3:12-cv-2389-PGS-JBD (D.N.J.).

This lawsuit is not about the safety or efficacy of Lipitor, and the Settlement does not involve any claims about the safety or efficacy of Lipitor.

In a class-action lawsuit, one or more persons or entities called “class representatives” (here, A.F. of L.-A.G.C. Building Trades Welfare Plan; the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore; New Mexico United Food and Commercial Workers Union’s and Employers’ Health and Welfare Trust Fund; Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Company d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana; Bakers Local 433 Health Fund; and Fraternal Order of Police, Fort Lauderdale Lodge 31, Insurance Trust Fund; Nancy Billington; Emilie Heinle; and Andrew Livezey) sue on behalf of others who have similar claims. Together, all these persons or entities make up the “class” and are called “class members.”

In a class-action lawsuit, one court and one case resolve the issues for all class members, except for those class members who exclude themselves from (or “opt out” of) the class.

A copy of the Court’s preliminary approval order certifying the Classes may be found here.

The Court has not decided in favor of the Plaintiffs or Pfizer. Instead, after extensive negotiations and hard-fought litigation, Plaintiffs and Pfizer have agreed to settle Plaintiffs’ claims against Pfizer. By settling, Plaintiffs and Pfizer avoid the cost and risks of trial and possible appeals. The Settlement, if approved by the Court, ensures that Class Members receive the benefits described on this website. The proposed Settlement does not mean that any law was broken or that Pfizer did anything wrong. The parties believe the Settlement is best for all Class Members.

Although Plaintiffs have reached a settlement with Pfizer, their litigation against Ranbaxy is currently ongoing.

There are two Settlement classes: a Consumer Class and a Third-Party Payor (“TPP”) Class.

• You are a member of the TPP Class if you:

  • Are an entity that, for consumption by its members, employees, insureds, participants, or beneficiaries, purchased, paid, and/or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price of branded Lipitor or generic atorvastatin calcium, in Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, or Wisconsin. (the “Class States”), other than for resale, at any time during the period from June 28, 2011 through and until December 31, 2012.

• You are member of the Consumer Class if you qualify under either of the following definitions:

  • Are an individual who purchased, paid, and/or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price of branded Lipitor, in the Class States, without the use of a Pfizer co-pay card, at any time during the period from June 28, 2011 through November 29, 2011); or

  • Are an individual who purchased, paid, and/or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price of generic atorvastatin calcium, in the Class States, at any time during the period from November 30, 2011 through December 31, 2012.

• Certain persons and entities are not included in the Classes, as set forth below.

  • Excluded from the TPP Class are (a) Pfizer, Ranbaxy, and their respective subsidiaries and affiliates; (b) Federal and state governmental entities; (c) Medicare Part D Plans; and (d) Medicaid Plans.

  • Excluded from the Consumer Class are (a) Judges assigned to this case and their chambers’ staff and any members of the judges’ or chambers staff’s immediate family; (b) Pfizer’s and Ranbaxy’s officers, directors, and employees; (c) Individuals who only purchased through a Medicare Part D or Medicaid Plan; (d) Individuals who only purchased branded Lipitor after November 30, 2011, and did not purchase generic atorvastatin calcium; and (e) Any “flat copay” consumer who purchased Lipitor only via a fixed dollar copayment that does not vary on the basis of the drug’s status as brand or generic.

Individuals and entities that submit a valid exclusion request before August 16, 2024, are also excluded from the Classes.

If you are not sure whether you are included in the Classes, or have questions about the Settlement, you may contact the Claims Administrator at the telephone number, email address, or address listed here.

Pfizer has agreed to pay $35 million into an interest-bearing escrow account (the “Settlement Fund”) for the benefit of the Classes. The Settlement Fund will be used for:

• Payments to eligible Class Members;
• Attorneys’ fees of up to 34% of the Settlement Fund, plus costs and expenses;
• Notice and administration costs and expenses; and
• Service awards of up to $15,000 to the Class Representatives.

In exchange, Plaintiffs’ lawsuit against Pfizer will be dismissed with prejudice, and Pfizer will be released by Class Members for the claims being resolved by this Settlement. The full text of the release is included in the Settlement Agreement.

To be eligible to receive a payment if the Court approves the Settlement, all Class Members must complete and submit a valid Claim Form. You can get a Claim Form here, by calling 1-888-831-7612, or by writing to the Claims Administrator at info@LipitorAntitrustSettlement.com or at the address below.

Claims Administrator 54388
P.O. Box 2694
Portland, OR 97208-2694

Claim Forms must be received (if submitted online) or postmarked (if mailed to the address above) by November 29, 2024. All Claim Form submissions will be kept confidential. If you are a consumer and do not otherwise consent, your identity will not be made public during any part of the claim process.

At this time, it is unknown how much each individual or entity who submits a valid Claim Form will receive. The amount of your payment will be determined according to Plaintiffs’ proposed Plan of Allocation, if approved by the Court, and will be based on your qualifying purchases of branded Lipitor and/or generic atorvastatin calcium and the number of claims that are filed. Complete details of how your recovery will be calculated are in the detailed Plan of Allocation.

The Court must approve the Settlement and any appeals of that decision must be resolved before any money is distributed to Class Members. The Claims Administrator must also complete its processing of all Claim Forms and determine distribution amounts. This process can take several months. Please be patient.

If you decide that you do not want to be part of a Class, you may exclude yourself (i.e., “opt out” of the Class). To exclude yourself, you must email or send a letter to the Claims Administrator, stating that you want to exclude yourself from a Class, at info@LipitorAntitrustSettlement.com, or

Claims Administrator 54388
P.O. Box 2694
Portland, OR 97208-2694

Your email or letter must include (1) your full name, current mailing address, and telephone number; (2) a statement that you want to be excluded from this class action lawsuit (e.g., “I hereby request that I be excluded from the Class in In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation.”); and (3) your signature. NOTE: you must personally sign the letter.

Your letter requesting exclusion must be postmarked or submitted no later than August 16, 2024. This will be the only opportunity you will have to exclude yourself from the Class of which you would otherwise be a member.

Third-party payors wishing to exclude themselves from the TPP Class must also submit data (i) sufficient to establish Class membership, and (ii) reflecting their purchases of, and payments for, branded and generic Lipitor. Class Members shall not be permitted to exclude other Class Members. Moreover, group or class-wide exclusions shall not be permitted. A request for exclusion must be submitted by each Class Member on an individual basis, and any request for exclusion by a purported authorized agent or representative of a Class Member must include proof of the representative’s legal authority and authorization to act and request exclusion on behalf of each Class Member they seek to opt out.

If you exclude yourself from either Class, you will not receive any benefits of the Settlement, you will not be legally bound by anything that happens in the lawsuit between Plaintiffs and Pfizer, and you may be able to sue (or continue to sue) Pfizer in the future about the legal issues in this case. If you exclude yourself from either Class so that you can start, or continue, your own lawsuit against Pfizer, you should talk to your own lawyer as soon as possible; your claims will be subject to a statute of limitations, which means that your claims will expire if you do not take timely action, and you need to contact your own lawyer about this issue.

Consumer identities will not be made public as part of the exclusion process. Absent consent by the Consumer, the Claims Administrator, the Court, Class Counsel, and Pfizer’s Counsel will keep that information confidential.

No. If you remain in either Class and the Court approves the Settlement, you give up your right to sue Pfizer relating to the claims made in this lawsuit. The specific claims you are giving up against Pfizer are described in detail in Paragraph 12 of the Settlement Agreement.

No. You will not get a payment if you exclude yourself from the Settlement.

If you are a Class Member, you can comment on or object to the Settlement by filing an objection. You may tell the Court that you object, entirely or in part, to the Settlement. You cannot ask the Court to order a different Settlement; the Court can only approve or reject the Settlement. If the Court denies approval, no Settlement payments will be sent out and the lawsuit against Pfizer will continue. You may also ask the Court to speak in person at the Fairness Hearing.

Any objection to the Settlement and/or requests to speak in person at the Fairness Hearing must be in writing. If you file a timely written objection, you may—but are not required to—appear at the Fairness Hearing. You may appear at the Fairness Hearing either in person or through your own attorney. If you appear through your own attorney, you are responsible for hiring and paying that attorney.

All written objections and supporting papers and/or requests to speak in person at the Fairness Hearing must include:

• Your name, address, telephone number, and signature;
• The case name and number: In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, Civil Action No. 3:12-cv-2389-PGS-JBD (D.N.J.);
• The name, address, and telephone number of any counsel representing you in connection with your objection;
• An explanation of the position to be asserted and the grounds for the objection, including whether the objection applies to a subset of the Class to which you belong, or to the entire Class, any legal support for your objection, and copies of any supporting papers or briefs;
• A statement as to whether you intend to appear at the Fairness Hearing (discussed further in FAQ 18-FAQ 20, below)), either with or without counsel, and the identities of any counsel who will appear on your behalf at the Fairness Hearing;
• A list of all other objections submitted by you, or your counsel, to any class-action settlements submitted in any court in the United States in the previous five (5) years, including the full case name, the jurisdiction in which it was filed, and the docket numbers (or a statement that there are no such objections); and
• Documentation demonstrating that you are a member of the Class to which you belong and/or this statement, followed by your signature: “I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that [insert your name] is a member of the Class.”

You must either 1) file your objection, together with any supporting briefs and/or documents, with the Court in person or via the Court’s electronic mailing system by August 16, 2024; or 2) mail your comment or objection to the Court, and mail copies of your comment or objection to Class Counsel and Pfizer’s counsel. All comments and objections must be postmarked by August 16, 2024, to the addresses in the table below.

Individual consumers who do not want their identities to be put on the public record as part of the objection process may send their objection only to the Claims Administrator (address also included in the table below), who will redact (or “black out”) such consumers’ names, addresses, and telephone numbers and then provide such redacted versions to the Court for filing on the public court docket. The Claims Administrator will also send copies of the original, unredacted objections to the Court, Class Counsel, and Pfizer’s counsel. How the Judge and the parties treat the merits of your objection does not depend on whether you keep your identifying information off the public record.

Court	Class Counsel	Counsel for Pfizer	Claims Administrator
Clerk U.S. District Court District of New Jersey Clarkson S. Fisher Building & U.S. Courthouse 402 East State Street Trenton, NJ 08608	Kenneth A. Wexler Wexler Boley & Elgersma LLP 311 S. Wacker Drive Suite 5450 Chicago, IL 60606  kaw@wbe-llp.com	Raj Gandesha White & Case LLP 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020  rgandesha@whitecase.com	Claims Administrator 54388 P.O. Box 2694 Portland, OR 97208-2694

Any lawyer representing a Class Member for the purpose of making comments or objections must also file a Notice of Appearance with the Court using the Court’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system.

You may file a claim even if you object to, or comment on, the Settlement. Whether or not you object, you must still file a claim by the deadline in FAQ 6 above to receive money from the Settlement.

Objecting is simply telling the Court that you do not like something about the Settlement. You can only object if you stay in the Class. If you object to the Settlement, you are still a Class Member, and you can submit a Claim Form.

Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you do not want to be a part of the Class. If you exclude yourself, you cannot receive a payment from the Settlement. You will also have no basis to object to the Settlement and appear at the Fairness Hearing (discussed below) because it no longer affects you.

If you are a Class Member and you do nothing, you will remain in the Class of which you are a member but you will not receive any money from the Settlement. You will be legally bound by the Court’s orders, and you will not be able to sue Pfizer on your own for the claims in this lawsuit. To be eligible to receive payment under the Settlement, you must complete, sign, and return the Claim Form by November 29, 2024.

Yes. The Court has appointed the law firms listed below to represent you and the other Class Members. These lawyers are called “Class Counsel.” Class Counsel are experienced in handling similar cases against other companies. Class Counsel include:

Class Counsel
Kenneth A. Wexler Wexler Boley & Elgersma LLP 311 S. Wacker Drive Suite 5450 Chicago, IL 60606  kaw@wbe-llp.com	Sharon Robertson Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC 88 Pine Street 14th Floor New York, NY 10005  srobertson@cohenmilstein.com	Robert G. Eisler Chad B. Holtzman Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. 123 Justison Street Wilmington, DE 19801  reisler@gelaw.com  choltzman@gelaw.com	Michael S. Buchman Motley Rice LLC 777 Third Avenue 27th Floor New York, NY 10017  mbuchman@motleyrice.com

You will not be personally charged for the services of these lawyers in litigating this case. If you want to be represented by another lawyer, you can hire one at your own expense.

You do not need to hire your own lawyer because the lawyers appointed by the Court are working on your behalf. If you so desire, you may hire a lawyer and enter an appearance through your lawyer at your own expense.

Class Counsel have not been paid anything to date for any of their work on this case. If the Court approves the Settlement, Class Counsel will ask the Court for an award of attorneys’ fees of up to 34% of the Settlement Fund, plus costs and litigation expenses. Class Counsel will also ask for service awards of up to $15,000 for each of the Class Representatives for their efforts to date on behalf of the Classes. If the Court grants Class Counsel’s requests, these amounts will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. You will not have to pay these fees, costs, or expenses out of your own pocket.

Class Counsel’s request for an award of attorneys’ fees and reimbursement of costs and expenses and for service awards for the Class Representatives will be filed with the Court and made available for download or viewing on or before August 27, 2024, on this website or on the Court docket for this case, for a fee, through the Court’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system. You can tell the Court you do not agree with Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and expenses, or the request for service awards for the Class Representatives, by filing an objection as described in FAQ 12.

The Court will hold a Fairness Hearing on October 1, 2024, in Courtroom 1 of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Clarkson S. Fisher Building & United States Courthouse, 402 East State Street, Trenton, New Jersey, 08608. The date and time of the hearing is subject to change. Notice of such a change will be posted on this website.

At this hearing, the Court will consider whether the settlement with Pfizer is fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there are objections, the Court will consider them and will listen to people who have asked to speak at the Hearing. The Court may also decide whether to award attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses, as well as service awards to the Class Representatives. After the Hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the settlement. We do not know how long these decisions will take.

No. Class Counsel will answer any questions the Court may have at the Fairness Hearing. But you are welcome to come at your own expense. If you send an objection, you do not have to come to Court to talk about it. As long as you mail your written objection on time, the Court will consider it. You may also pay your own lawyer to attend, but it is not necessary. Attendance at the Fairness Hearing is not necessary to receive a pro rata share of the Settlement Fund.

Yes. You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Fairness Hearing, either in person or through your own attorney. To do so, you must send or email a letter stating that it is your “Notice of Intention to Appear at the Final Fairness Hearing in In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, Civil Action No. 3:12-cv-2389-PGS-JBD (D.N.J.).” Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, and your signature, along with copies of any papers, exhibits, or other evidence and the identity of all witnesses you intend to present to the Court in connection with the Fairness Hearing. Your Notice of Intention to Appear must be postmarked no later than August 16, 2024, and must be emailed or sent to the addresses listed in FAQ 12.

If you appear through your own attorney, you are responsible for paying that attorney.

The Settlement Agreement, relevant decisions and orders, and additional information about this case are also available here. You may also contact the Claims Administrator by mail at Claims Administrator 54388, P.O. Box 2694, Portland, OR 97208-2694, by email at info@LipitorAntitrustSettlement.com, or by phone at 1-888-831-7612.

Complete copies of all public pleadings, Court rulings, and other filings are available for review by accessing the Court docket for this case, for a fee, through the Court’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE COURT CLERK’S OFFICE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THIS CASE.