Dicello Levitt LLC and Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC Announce a Proposed Settlement of a Class Action Involving Purchasers of Opana ER and/or its Generic Equivalent

CHICAGO, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

If you paid for or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price of brand or generic Opana ER^® (oxymorphone hydrochloride extended release), you could get a payment from a class action lawsuit.

Your rights may be affected by a proposed partial settlement in a class action lawsuit regarding the prices paid for brand and generic Opana ER by consumers and third-party payors filed against Defendant Impax Laboratories, Inc. ("Impax"). The case name is In re Opana ER Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2580, Lead Case No. 14-cv-10150 (N.D. Ill.) (the "Lawsuit").  The Lawsuit, which is pending in the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Impax, together with Endo Health Solutions Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (collectively, "Endo"), violated certain state antitrust, consumer protection, and unjust enrichment laws by entering into a "pay for delay" or "reverse payment" agreement, delaying the launch of Impax's generic version of Opana ER until January 2013. As a result, the Lawsuit alleges that the End-Payor Classes paid or reimbursed for brand and generic Opana ER at prices that were higher than they would have otherwise been. Impax denies any wrongdoing. After Plaintiffs settled with Impax, a federal jury determined that as to Endo, Plaintiffs did not meet their burden in showing that Endo violated federal or state laws arising from Plaintiffs' allegations.

The Court has preliminarily approved the proposed settlement between the End-Payor Classes and Impax (the "Settlement"). The proposed Impax Settlement will provide for the payment of $15 million (the "Settlement Fund") to resolve the End-Payor Classes' claims against Impax. The full text of the proposed Settlement Agreement is available at www.opanaerantitrustlitigation.com. 

The Court has scheduled a hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement, the plan for allocating the Settlement Fund to Class Members, and the request of Co-Lead Counsel for payment of attorneys' fees and reimbursement of expenses and service awards to the Class Representative Plaintiffs out of the Settlement Fund (the "Fairness Hearing"). The Fairness Hearing is scheduled for December 15, 2022, at 10:00a.m., before Judge Harry D. Leinenweber at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60604.

You are a member of the End-Payor Plaintiff Classes if:

You purchased, paid for, or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price of brand or generic Opana ER sold by Endo or Impax for the purpose of consumption, and not resale, by yourself, your family member(s), insureds, plan participants, employees, or beneficiaries, at any time from April 2011 through September 2018 in any of the following states or commonwealths:

Arizona*, California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts*, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi*, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

* With respect to Arizona, Massachusetts, and Mississippi unjust enrichment claims, Class Members must have purchased, paid for, and/or provided reimbursement for some or all of the purchase price of brand or generic Opana ER from June 4, 2011, through September 2018.

The following are NOT members of the Classes:

• Defendants and their counsel, officers, directors, management, employees, subsidiaries, or affiliates;
• Persons or entities whose only purchases of or reimbursements or payments for brand or generic Opana ER were of or for the generic Opana ER product sold by Actavis South Atlantic LLC or its successors;
• All governmental entities and Medicare Part D plans and beneficiaries, except for non-Medicare Part D government-funded employee benefit plans;
• All persons or entities who purchased Opana ER for purposes of resale or directly from Defendants or their affiliates;
• Fully insured health plans (plans that purchased insurance from another third-party payor covering 100 percent of the plan's reimbursement obligations to its members);
• Flat co-payers (consumers who paid the same co-payment amount for brand and generic drugs);
• Any consumer who purchased only Endo's brand version of Opana ER after the AB-rated generic version became available in January 2013 (i.e., "brand loyalists");
• Consumers with copay insurance plans who purchased only generic versions of Opana ER (i.e., "generic-only copay consumers");
• Pharmacy Benefit Managers;
• All Counsel of Record; and
• The Court, Court personnel, and any member of their immediate families.

For additional details, please read the Long Form Notice available at www.opanaerantitrustlitigation.com.

DO NOTHING: If you are a member of a Class, by doing nothing you will remain in that Class but will not be entitled to share in any distribution from the Settlement Fund. You will be bound by any decision of the Court in this Lawsuit, including rulings on the Settlement.

SUBMIT A CLAIM FORM: If you did not exclude yourself from one or more of the Classes prior to the December 6, 2021, deadline and believe you are a Class Member, you will need to complete and return a Claim Form to obtain a share of the Settlement Fund. The Claim Form, and information on how to submit it, are available on the Settlement website. Claim Forms must be postmarked (if mailed) or received (if submitted online) on or before January 5, 2023. Because a federal jury has recently determined that Impax's co-defendant Endo has not violated federal or state law arising from its reverse payment agreement, this may be your only opportunity to receive compensation in this Litigation.

OBJECT TO THE SETTLEMENT: If you object to all or any part of the Settlement or desire to speak in person at the Fairness Hearing, you must file a written letter of objection and/or a notice of intention to speak, including a summary statement, with the Court, Co-Lead Counsel, and Counsel for Impax by November 7, 2022.

Go to www.opanaerantitrustlitigation.com. You may also contact the Claims and Notice Administrator, by mail at Opana ER Antitrust Litigation, P.O. Box 173067, Milwaukee, WI 53217, email at [email protected], or phone at 877-888-6423. The deadlines contained in this notice may be amended by Court Order, so check the Settlement website for any updates.

Please do not call the Court or the Clerk of the Court for information about the Impax Settlement.

SOURCE Dicello Levitt LLC and Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC