A recent Legal Intelligencer story, “Judge OKs $150M Settlement in Flonase Class Action,” reports that a federal judge has approved a $150 million settlement by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) of a 33-member direct purchaser class action over allegations the drugmaker monopolized the market for its nasal spray Flonase.  U.S. District Senior Judge Anita B. Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania also approved the payment of $50 million in attorney fees and $2.1 million in expenses for plaintiffs’ class counsel.  Thomas Sobol of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Joseph Meltzer of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check are co-lead counsel for the direct purchasers in the case.

The plaintiffs argued GSK delayed the entry of generic Flonase into the market, which led to direct purchasers being overcharged; according to court papers.  The plaintiffs also argued that “this allowed GSK to unlawfully maintain monopoly power in the American [Flonase] market; maintain the price of Flonase at above-competitive levels; and overcharge the direct purchasers millions of dollars by blocking unrestricted competition and access to less expensive generic versions,” Brody said.

Class counsel reported they spent more than 41,000 hours litigating this case over almost five years, Brody said in her opinion.  The average billable rate is $407 per hour, according to the judge’s opinion,  The lodestar multiplier is calculated by dividing the attorney fees of $50 million by the total amount of hours devoted to the litigation times the $16.75 million in class counsel’s hourly rates.  There is a multiplier of 2.99 in the case under the calculation, Brody said, and it is within the “generally acceptable range and provides additional support for approving the attorneys’ fee request.

For more on this case visit http://flonaselitigation.com/