|
In re Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Securities Litigation
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)
This is a securities fraud class action filed on behalf of a class of persons and
entities who purchased or acquired the common stock of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“Bristol-Myers” or the “Company”)
between March 21, 2006, through and including August 8, 2006 (the "Class Period").
On September 20, 2007, District Judge Paul A. Crotty of the United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York appointed BLB&G client the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board as Lead Plaintiff
and BLB&G as Lead Counsel for the Class. On October 15, 2007, Plaintiffs filed the
Amended Class Action Complaint (the “Complaint”).
The Complaint’s allegations relate to Bristol-Myers’ closely-watched attempt to obtain approval for a proposed settlement
agreement with a Canadian generic pharmaceutical company, Apotex Inc., to prevent Apotex from introducing into the
marketplace a generic equivalent of Bristol-Myers’ largest-selling drug, Plavix. The Company was required to obtain
regulatory approval for the settlement under the terms of a consent decree resulting from past allegations of anti-competitive
behavior against Bristol-Myers. The Company failed to disclose to investors that it had agreed to significant limitations
on its damages and patent enforcement rights against Apotex if the regulators rejected the settlement.
When the proposed settlement did not receive regulatory approval, the Company did not disclose that failure to investors.
Defendants instead entered into a renegotiated settlement agreement with Apotex, which now included secret oral terms which
were not reported to investors, nor to the regulators. By using these secret oral side agreements, Defendants hoped to
secure regulatory approval of the settlement agreement by criminally deceiving the regulators regarding the full terms
of the amended agreement. However, unbeknownst to Defendants, outside counsel to Apotex confidentially reported the unlawful
oral side agreements to the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), and, as a result,
the DOJ immediately opened a criminal investigation into Bristol-Myers. In late July 2006, the FBI raided the Company’s
headquarters in New York City.
Shortly after the end of the Class Period, the Company announced the involuntary termination of both its CEO,
Defendant Peter R. Dolan, and its General Counsel because of their conduct relating to the Apotex settlement agreement.
In June 2007, the Company pled guilty to two criminal felony counts of making false statements to a government agency,
admitting that the Company had failed to disclose important facts to the regulators regarding the proposed Apotex
agreement.
On March 13, 2008, the parties argued Defendants' motion to dismiss the Complaint before Judge
Crotty. That motion is pending.
Firm partner
Salvatore Graziano
and associates Jai Chandrasekhar,
Noam Mandel,
and Katherine Sinderson are responsible for prosecuting this action.
|
