Celgene has backed out of $55 million settlement of a class action lawsuit that alleged they blocked generic drug competition to raise prices on two life-saving cancer drugs.
The New Jersey-based company was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb last year.
“It is very disappointing that Celgene has elected to back out of a deal that would have provided restitution to as many as 8,000 individual patients who filed claims to share in the settlement,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient who took Revlimid for more than five years. “It is my hope that this action by Celgene leads to a much larger total payout by Celgene after all is said and done.”
Mitchell is the founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group that spent over $3 million to defeat former Celgene CEO Bob Hugin in his 2018 U.S. Senate campaign against incumbent Bob Menendez.
TV ads Mitchell’s PAC ran accused Hugin of making more than $140 million off the sale of Revlimid and doubled the price three times, even as patients were going broke paying for the drug.
During the Senate race, Menendez ran TV ads that focused on a Justice Department lawsuit accusing Celgene of selling two of its flagship drugs off-script and orchestrating a series of kickback schemes to boost sales.
The suit now returns to litigation.