Commercial Litigation
In November of 2017, we were served with a complaint filed by Arbor Pharmaceuticals, LLC, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The complaint alleged false advertising and unfair competition in violation of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, Section 1125(a) of Title 15 of the United States Code, and Minnesota State law, under the premise that we sold an unapproved Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate (“EES”) product during the period between September 27, 2016 and November 2, 2018. The complaint sought a trial by jury and monetary damages (inclusive of actual and consequential damages, treble damages, disgorgement of ANI profits, and legal fees) of an unspecified amount. Discovery in this action closed on March 31, 2019 and trial was scheduled to commence on August 25, 2021. On August 3, 2021, the Company entered into a Settlement Agreement with Arbor Pharmaceuticals, LLC to resolve all claims related to Civil Action 17-4910, Arbor Pharmaceuticals, LLC (“Arbor”) v. ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was pending trial in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Under the terms of the agreement, ANI paid Arbor $8.4 million and Arbor dismissed the action with prejudice. Neither party admitted wrongdoing in reaching this settlement. The Company paid the settlement from cash on the balance sheet.
On December 3, 2020, class action complaints were filed against the Company on behalf of putative classes of direct and indirect purchasers of the drug Bystolic. On December 23, 2020, six individual purchasers of Bystolic, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen, Kroger, Albertsons, and H-E-B, filed complaints against the Company. On March 15, 2021, the plaintiffs in these actions filed amended complaints. All amended complaints are substantively identical. The plaintiffs in these actions allege that, beginning in 2012, Forest Laboratories, the manufacturer of Bystolic, entered into anticompetitive agreements when settling patent litigation related to Bystolic with seven potential manufacturers of a generic version of Bystolic: Hetero, Torrent, Alkem/Indchemie, Glenmark, Amerigen, Watson, and various of their corporate parents, successors, subsidiaries, and affiliates. ANI itself was not a party to patent litigation with Forest concerning Bystolic and did not settle patent litigation with Forest. The plaintiffs named the Company as a defendant based on the Company’s January 8, 2020 Asset Purchase Agreement with Amerigen. The complaints allege that the 2013 patent litigation settlement agreement between Forest and Amerigen violates federal and state antitrust laws and state consumer protection laws by delaying the market entry of generic versions of Bystolic. Plaintiffs allege they paid higher prices as a result of delayed generic competition. Plaintiffs seek damages, trebled or otherwise multiplied under applicable law, injunctive relief, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. The complaints do not specify the amount of damages sought from the Company or other defendants and the Company at this early stage of the litigation cannot reasonably estimate the potential damages that the plaintiffs will seek. The cases have been consolidated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as In re Bystolic Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 20-cv-005735 (LJL). On April 23, 2021, the Company and other defendants filed motions to dismiss the amended complaints, which are pending before the court for decision. The Company disputes any liability in these matters.
On March 24, 2021, Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Azurity”) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota against ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., asserting that ANI’s vancomycin hydrochloride oral solution drug product infringes U.S. Patent No. 10,688,046. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, damages, including lost profits and/or royalty, treble damages, and attorneys’ fee and costs. ANI filed its answer on August 31, 2021, and is currently engaged in discovery. ANI intends to dispute any and all liability in this case.
On April 1, 2021, United Therapeutics Corp. and Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“UTC/Supernus”) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., asserting that ANI's proposed Treprostinil extended release drug product, which is subject to ANI’s Abbreviated New Drug Application No. 215667, infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 7,417,070, 7,544,713, 8,252,839, 8,349,892, 8,410,169, 8,747,897, 9,050,311, 9,278,901, 9,393,203, 9,422,223, 9,593,066 and 9,604,901 (“the Asserted Patents”). The complaint seeks injunctive relief, attorneys' fee and costs. ANI filed its answer and counterclaims on May 28, 2021, denying UTC/Supernus’ allegations and seeking declaratory judgment that ANI has not infringed any valid and enforceable claim of the Asserted Patents, that the Asserted Patents are invalid, and an award of attorneys’ fees and costs. Trial is set for May 8, 2023.