CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office is reminding consumers of an upcoming deadline to file claims in a $125 million multistate settlement with pharmaceutical company Cephalon and anticompetitive practices involving its drug Provigil.
Consumers are able to make claims for their share of approximately $360,000 as part of a multistate claims process. The deadline to file claims is June 25. Those eligible must have paid for Provigil or its generic, Modafinil, from June 24, 2006, to March 31, 2012.
“With the claim deadline quickly approaching, it is important for West Virginians who paid for Provigil to know what options are available to them,” Morrisey said in a statement. “This may allow consumers to recoup money lost by the absence of competition."
The settlement ended a multistate investigation into anticompetitive practices by Cephalon and affiliated companies. The states contend the company protected monopoly profits earned from its narcolepsy-treating, wakefulness drug, Provigil.
The states alleged Cephalon intentionally defrauded the Patent and Trademark Office to secure an additional patent and delay generic drug competition. The alleged conduct involved its filing of patent infringement lawsuits against all potential generic competitors.
Cephalon subsequently settled those lawsuits in 2005 and early 2006 by paying its competitors to delay sale of generic versions of Provigil until at least April 2012. In turn, consumers, states, and other stakeholders paid hundreds of millions more for Provigil than if a generic version had been available by early 2006.
Defendants named in the settlement are Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and its parent company, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., along with subsidiaries Cephalon Inc. and Barr Laboratories Inc.
To obtain a claim form, visit http://www.StateAGProvigilSettlement.com or call 1-877-236-1413. Anyone with questions also can call the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-368-8808.
