Bris­tol My­ers Squibb and Cel­gene named in class ac­tion suit over can­cer block­buster Po­m­a­lyst

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana is tak­ing Bris­tol My­ers Squibb to court over what it al­leges to be an un­law­ful mo­nop­oly for the can­cer block­buster Po­m­a­lyst.

BMS ac­quired Po­m­a­lyst, al­so known as po­ma­lido­mide, in its $74 bil­lion Cel­gene takeover in 2019. While the drug was first ap­proved in 2013 for pa­tients with mul­ti­ple myelo­ma, BMS swung a la­bel ex­pan­sion the fol­low­ing year to in­clude a rare form of can­cer called Ka­posi sar­co­ma. The drug gen­er­at­ed near­ly $3.5 bil­lion in 2022 sales, ac­cord­ing to BMS.

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