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October 23, 2009 at 08:00 PM
Insurers may be able to get more than $29 million from a fund that could be created to settle a prescription marketing class-action lawsuit.
The U.S. District Court in New Jersey has granted preliminary approval to a settlement for In re Vytorin/Zetia Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation.
The lawyers who filed the suit are representing a suit that includes consumers, insurers, and other individuals or entities that paid for, or reimbursed others who paid for, the anti-cholesterol drugs Zetia or Vytorin from Nov. 1, 2002, through Sept. 17, 2009.
The proposed settlement fund would start with a total of $41.5 million in cash, according to a consulting firm that is helping the lawyers involved in the preliminary settlement agreement communicate with class members.
The lawyers for the class members would deduct court-approved attorneys’ fees and expenses from the settlement fund before any payments were made to class members, the consulting firm says.
The plaintiffs claim in their suit that the defendants violated consumer protection laws by marketing Zetia and Vytorin as being more effective than other anti-cholesterol drugs and selling them at higher prices when they were not more effective.
The defendants deny any wrongdoing but are settling the lawsuit to resolve the controversy and to avoid the burden and expense of further litigation, according to the consultants.
