By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Cigna sued Bristol Myers Squibb on Tuesday, accusing the drugmaker of violating U.S. antitrust law by keeping generic versions of its blockbuster blood cancer drug Pomalyst off the market so it could retain a monopoly. In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Cigna said Bristol Myers’ Celgene unit […]
Health
Cigna sues Bristol Myers for alleged monopoly over blockbuster cancer drug
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By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Cigna sued Bristol Myers Squibb on Tuesday, accusing the drugmaker of violating U.S. antitrust law by keeping generic versions of its blockbuster blood cancer drug Pomalyst off the market so it could retain a monopoly.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Cigna said Bristol Myers’ Celgene unit filed sham lawsuits to protect its patents for Pomalyst, whose chemical name is pomalidomide, and paid off several generic drugmakers to end legal challenges.
The insurer also said Celgene did not tell the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that a Boston doctor had obtained a patent for pomalidomide to treat multiple myeloma, and defrauded that office by claiming “unexpected” positive results in testing.
By having “willfully maintained monopoly power” over brand name and generic Pomalyst, Bristol Myers caused purchasers such as Cigna to overpay by “many hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars,” the complaint said.
Bristol Myers, based in Princeton, New Jersey, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cigna, based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, is seeking unspecified triple damages.
It sued nearly three months after a Manhattan federal judge dismissed a proposed class action led by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana raising similar claims.
In that case, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos said the plaintiffs failed to show Celgene committed fraud in procuring patents for Pomalyst, or that Celgene filed baseless lawsuits against generic drugmakers that led to fraudulent settlements.
Bristol Myers’ U.S. sales of the drug, which is also sold under the name Imnovid, totaled $2.7 billion last year and $537 million in the first three months of 2025.
Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that affects plasma cells in bone marrow.
There is no known cure, and the five-year survival rate was 62.4% between 2015 and 2021, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The case is Cigna Group v Celgene Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-05237.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio and Marguerita Choy)