South San Francisco Merck office in San Francisco. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM
A federal judge in Virginia approved a $70 million settlement agreement Thursday between several municipal employee benefit funds and two pharmaceutical companies—Merck & Co. and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals – over the cholesterol-lowering medication Zetia, and allegations that drug manufacturers colluded to delay the introduction of a less-expensive generic version.
U.S. District Senior Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia approved the final settlement agreement between the municipal benefit funds and pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which also requires the defendants to pay one-third of the settlement fund in attorney fees, or $23 million, as well as $3.9 million in costs—as requested by plaintiffs' counsel.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Allison Dunn
Allison Dunn is a reporter on ALM's Rapid Response desk based in Ohio, covering impactful litigation filings and rulings, emerging legal trends, controversies in the industry, and everything in between. Contact her at [email protected]. On Twitter: @AllisonDWrites.
