U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston has rejected a plea deal that was part of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals’s agreement to pay $40 million to end U.S. probes of its marketing of cholesterol drug Juxtapid.
Young ordered the case ready for trial, ruling that the U.S. Justice Department’s deal with the Novelion Therapeutics unit was not in the public interest. While he commended Aegerion’s new management for its cooperation, Young was critical of the lack of any payment to victims, saying the agreement fell short in justifying the acceptability of its terms.
Announced on Sept. 22, the plea deal originally was part of a settlement with the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cholesterol drug. As part of a deal, Aegerion agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor drug misbranding violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and pay $36 million to resolve criminal and civil claims.
Read the Reuters report