Regeneron wins $407M verdict

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. applauds the jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware that found that Amgen Inc. violated antitrust and tort laws by creating a bundling scheme that illegally leveraged its blockbuster anti-inflammatory drugs Enbrel (etanercept) and Otezla (apremilast) to convince pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to select Repatha (evolocumab) as the exclusive PCSK9 category product over Praluen (alirocumab). The jury found that Amgen violated the Clayton Act, the Sherman Act, the New York State Donnelly Act, the California Cartwright Act and Delaware tort law.

Enbrel and Otezla are therapeutically different medicines that do not treat the heart conditions that Praluent or Repatha address. Amgen threatened to withhold rebates unless PBMs preferred Repatha and excluded Praluent. Amgen prevented Regeneron from competing on a level playing field and unfairly denied patients access to Praluent. This anticompetitive practice shut out an innovative therapy from the PCSK9 marketplace, not based on clinical merit or price. Because of Amgen’s size and unrelated product portfolio, their anticompetitive actions ultimately hurt competition and patients.

The jury awarded Regeneron $135.6 million dollars of compensatory damages. The jury also awarded Regeneron $271.2 million dollars in punitive damages. Punitive damages may be awarded to punish a party for outrageous conduct and deter a party, and others like it, from engaging in similar conduct in the future.