Castro v. Sanofi Pasteur Inc. – Antitrust Settlement

Berger Montague served as co-lead class counsel and obtained a $61.5 million settlement on behalf of a class of physicians and other direct purchasers of vaccines from defendant Sanofi Pasteur Inc. (“Sanofi”). Led by Eric L. Cramer, the plaintiffs charged that Sanofi used a network of physician buying groups to implement a web of anticompetitive product bundling agreements. The plaintiffs claimed these anticompetitive agreements allowed Sanofi to maintain and increase its monopoly power in various pediatric vaccine markets, which in turn allowed Sanofi to charge artificially-inflated prices for multiple pediatric vaccines. Berger Montague defeated Sanofi’s motion to dismiss, won a motion to strike Sanofi’s counterclaim, and turned back Sanofi’s motion to stay in discovery. The case was litigated in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and captioned Castro v. Sanofi Pasteur Inc., No. 2:11-cv-07178 (D.N.J.).

On September 30, 2015, U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted class certification to over 26,000 pediatricians, medical practices, vaccine distributors, and health systems that purchased meningitis vaccines from Sanofi. The court also denied Sanofi’s motion to exclude the plaintiffs’ class experts following a three-day Daubert hearing. Eric L. Cramer and Michael Kane of Berger Montague oversaw the class certification and Daubert briefing and conducted the three-day Daubert hearing.

The case subsequently settled prior to trial for $61.5 million. On October 23, 2017, the Court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for final approval of the settlement.

If you or your company has been harmed by anticompetitive conduct or any conduct that you believe violates the antitrust laws, please contact Berger Montague.

About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is a national law firm focusing on complex civil litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. For over half a century, Berger Montague has played lead roles in consequential, precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.