Institutional Investors Recover $688 Million From Merck and Schering-Plough in Securities Fraud Litigation

MENAFN - - 2/14/2013 8:16:28 AM

Institutional Investors Recover 688 Million From Merck and Schering-Plough in Securities Fraud Litigation

NEW YORK, NY, Feb 14, 2013 (Menafn - Marketwire via COMTEX) --The Court-appointed Lead Plaintiffs in the coordinated securities class actions pending against Merck & Co. Inc. ("Merck"), Schering-Plough Corporation ("Schering"), Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, certain of the Companies' directors and officers, and the underwriters of a 2007 Schering stock offering today announced that they have reached settlements on behalf of investors totaling 688 million subject to Court approval. The actions relate to a clinical trial called "ENHANCE" involving the anti-cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin.

The actions, currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey before Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh, are In re Schering-Plough Corporation/ENHANCE Securities Litigation, Master File No. 08-397, which settled for 473 million; and In re Merck & Co., Inc. Vytorin/Zetia Securities Litigation, Master File No. 08-2177, which settled for 215 million. The combined 688 million in settlements is the second largest securities class action settlement in the Third Circuit, among the top 25 securities class action settlements of all time, and among the ten largest recoveries in a securities class action not involving a restatement.

The settlements were reached after almost five years of protracted litigation led by Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP ("BLB&G") and co-counsel, and only after the District Court granted Plaintiffs' motions for class certification and denied Defendants' motions for summary judgment and the Third Circuit denied Defendants' Rule 23(f) appeals of the District Court's decisions granting class certification. Trial was scheduled to begin on March 4, 2013.

BLB&G is Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel representing Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi, and Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System on behalf of the Class in the Schering-Plough action, and Co-Lead Counsel representing Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund and General Retirement System of the City of Detroit on behalf of the Class in the Merck case.

The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board served as Co-Lead Plaintiff in the Schering action represented by Labaton Sucharow LLP. Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP and International Fund Management, S.A. Luxemburg served as Co-Lead Plaintiff in the Merck action represented by the law firm of Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. Pilgrim Mediation Group served as mediators in the actions.

BackgroundThese two actions stem from claims that Merck and Schering (which merged in November 2009) artificially inflated their securities by concealing material information and making false and misleading statements regarding the blockbuster anti-cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin. Namely, Lead Plaintiffs alleged that even though the Defendants knew that a clinical trial of Vytorin, called "ENHANCE," demonstrated that Vytorin (a combination of Zetia and a generic statin medication) was no more effective than the cheaper, generic statin drug at reducing artery thickness, the Companies nonetheless championed the "benefits" of the drugs, attracting billions of dollars of capital in the process. Yielding to public pressure to release the results of the ENHANCE trial, Lead Plaintiffs allege that the companies reluctantly announced that the cholesterol drugs showed "no statistically significant difference" in plaque buildup, and that news of these negative results and their related consequences caused sharp declines in the value of the companies' securities, resulting in significant losses to investors.

For more information on these actions, please visit www.blbglaw.com .

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Contact:Alexander CoxeMarketing and Communications DirectorBernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP1285 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10019

T: 212-554-1423 alex@blbglaw.com

SOURCE: Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP