Big pharmaceutical gets a big win as federal judge Lawrence Stengel refuses to certify a class action lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline. Stengel threw out the case on the ground that the plaintiff did not sufficiently prove that each class member was affected by GSK’s actions. Plaintiffs brought suit alleging that GSK set out to delay the arrival date of a generic version of Wellbutrin SR by bringing baseless patent litigation. Stengel, however, did not see that all of those involved in the class action were actually harmed by the actions of GSK. Instead, Stengel chose to side with GSK’s expert witness, John Bigelow of the Princeton Economics Group, and held that there was no clear evidence that indirect purchasers had sustained substantial injury or out-of-pocket losses. The decision handed down will likely be used by other big pharmaceutical firms because the details Stengel highlights point to general problems resulting from consumer class actions like these.  The theory behind this kind of case is that consumers are hurt when generic drugs are not available, but Stengel challenges that this suffering may be more attenuated, and more research must be conducted to show specific harm.

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