Pfizer, Teva lose bid to disqualify ex-prosecutor in generic drug price‑fixing case

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Pfizer PFE.N, Teva and other major drugmakers have failed to persuade a federal judge to disqualify a former prosecutor who is representing private health insurers suing the companies after he spearheaded similar antitrust lawsuits on behalf of U.S. states.

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe in an order on Monday rejected the drugmakers’ claims that attorney Joseph Nielsen and his law firm Lowey Dannenberg should be barred from the lawsuits because he could potentially use confidential information he acquired while working for the Connecticut state attorney general.

Rufe is presiding over antitrust lawsuits accusing dozens of general pharmaceutical companies of widespread price-fixing. She said Nielsen and his law firm can continue representing insurers Humana HUM.N and Molina MOH.N in four of the lawsuits, denying the drugmakers' disqualification bids.

Nielsen, a former assistant Connecticut state attorney general for nearly 20 years, oversaw U.S. states’ claims that dozens of generic drugmakers conspired to inflate prices. He joined Lowey Dannenberg, a small plaintiffs-focused firm with offices in New York and Pennsylvania, last year.

Nielsen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pfizer, Teva and Bausch Health BHC.TO, which is among the defendants, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nielsen, who specialized in antitrust cases as a prosecutor, began representing Molina and Humana after joining Lowey as a partner. The firm markets its work for major insurers seeking damages for alleged overcharges for prescription drugs.

Nielsen’s participation in the lawsuit runs afoul of rules restricting the work of government lawyers who enter private practice, Pfizer and the other drugmakers alleged.

“He brought with him to private practice a trove of knowledge and information gained by wielding government authority, and he concedes that some of that material is confidential and could harm defendants if he shared it with his new partners and new clients,” the drugmakers told the court.

Nielsen’s firm told the defendants that Nielsen would not share any confidential information gained from his past work for Connecticut.

Rufe said the drugmakers had not shown Nielsen holds information that may be unfairly harmful to them, and that he had not violated Pennsylvania’s rules for professional attorney conduct.

The case is In Re: Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. 2:20-cv-00695-CMR.

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Pfizer, other drugmakers ask court to bar ex-prosecutor from price-fixing lawsuits