Sanofi defeats class certification in putative nationwide consumer class action

Client(s) Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recently denied a motion for class certification brought by plaintiffs seeking to represent all consumers nationwide who purchased insulin products sold by Jones Day's client Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC. The plaintiffs filed the case seven years ago, claiming that Sanofi (and two other insulin manufacturers) engaged in an illegal scheme to inflate the price of insulin products by providing undisclosed rebates to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in exchange for favorable insurance coverage of their products.

The District Court refused to certify the proposed nationwide and state-specific classes, finding that the plaintiffs had abandoned their original theory that the prices paid were somehow fraudulent because they did not reflect rebates paid to PBMs, and holding that plaintiffs' new theory—that the prices paid were unfair or unconscionable because they did not include the rebates—was not appropriate for class-wide treatment. So holding, the court found that the proposed classes failed for a number of independent reasons that Jones Day (along with counsel for the other manufacturers) had advanced. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied plaintiffs' request for immediate appeal of the decision, which marks an important victory for Sanofi among the many insulin-pricing cases filed by private plaintiffs, cities and counties, and state attorneys general.

In re Insulin Pricing Litigation, No. 2:17-cv-699 (D.N.J.)