Bristol Myers Faces Scrutiny For Allegedly Rigging Market On $2B Cancer Drug

Bristol Myers Squibb & Co BMY and its subsidiary Celgene Inc. face antitrust allegations in a civil lawsuit.

Cigna Corp CI accuses both companies of unlawfully extending their monopoly on the multiple myeloma drug pomalidomide, marketed as Pomalyst.

The complaint argues that the pharmaceutical giants engaged in fraudulent patent practices, abuse of the court system, and anticompetitive deals to delay generic competition, resulting in billions of dollars in overcharges to drug purchasers.

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Purchasers of this $2.25 billion a year drug—like Cigna—have overpaid for pomalidomide by many hundreds of millions, “if not billions, of dollars,” the lawsuit alleged.

Bloomberg Law published a copy of the lawsuit online Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, Celgene secured method-of-use and formulation patents for pomalidomide by intentionally misleading the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The company allegedly withheld information about earlier patents from a Boston Children's Hospital doctor and submitted false expert declarations claiming they overcame "unexpected" drug stability issues.

The suit claims those statements were knowingly false, as scientists had long addressed such challenges with thalidomide analogs through standard techniques. Without this fraudulent conduct, the patents would not have been granted, and generics could have entered the market earlier.

Celgene also allegedly filed a series of sham lawsuits to block potential competitors, fully aware that the patents in question were either invalid or easily circumvented.

These lawsuits were based on patents obtained through fraud or were so weak that no reasonable company could expect to win. Despite this, Celgene pursued litigation to delay generic entry and protect inflated drug prices.

“The lawsuits were a sham because no reasonable litigant in Celgene's position would have expected to prevail in showing that the patents at issue (method of treatment, formulation, and crystal form) were both valid and infringed,” Cigna said in the complaint.

The complaint further alleges that Celgene and Bristol Myers made reverse payments to generic manufacturers to delay market entry.

These settlements, including those tied to another Celgene drug, Revlimid, created coordinated output restrictions and delivered hundreds of millions in excess profits to generic competitors.

The arrangement maintained artificially high prices for Revlimid and Pomalyst. The generic launch for Pomalyst—set for the first quarter of 2026—coincides with the end of the Revlimid restriction.

The lawsuit claims that Celgene paid generic drugmakers—Aurobindo, Eugia, Breckenridge, Natco, and Teva—to drop their efforts to challenge patents for the drug pomalidomide and delay launching cheaper versions in the U.S. market.

It also alleges that Celgene and Bristol Myers delayed generic versions of Pomalyst by offering large payments for related settlements over another drug, Revlimid.

Pomalyst and Revlimid are prescription medicines used to treat adults with multiple myeloma.

During the first quarter of 2025, Revlimid sales reached $936 million, down 44% year over year. Pomalyst/Imnovid sales fell 24% to $658 million.

Benzinga reached out to Bristol Myers for commentary but have not heard back.

Price Action: BMY stock is down 0.59% at $46.75 at the last check on Wednesday.

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