In re Novartis and Par Antitrust Litigation

Background

Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. submitted a letter request under the court’s rules and the parties’ amended stipulated protective order. The request concerned filings related to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents.

Request to Seal or Redact

Par stated that Plaintiffs’ supporting memorandum and reply memorandum, as well as the defendants’ opposition, discussed a Par document containing privileged information. Par asked that those filings remain sealed in part, with redactions limited to information it said was necessary to protect its privileged material.

Par also asked that an exhibit to a declaration remain sealed in its entirety. It described the exhibit as containing confidential information about its portfolio of potential new product launches, much of it forward-looking and concerning products other than generic Exforge. Par argued that disclosure could harm its competitive position and that individualized redaction was impractical.

The letter cited the presumption of public access to judicial records, along with exceptions for privileged information and confidential business information whose disclosure could harm a litigant’s competitive standing. The plaintiffs’ direct purchasers and end-payor plaintiffs took no position while reserving the right to respond; the retailer plaintiffs did not oppose Par’s proposed redactions.

Ruling

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein signed the request “so ordered” on March 3, 2022. The supplied opinion text does not use a more specific disposition such as “granted” or separately identify which portions were sealed or redacted. The ruling concerned access to filings and did not decide the underlying antitrust dispute.