Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Lowey Dannenberg, P.C. Announce Certification of a Class of Third Party Payors Who Purchased or Paid for Some or All of the Price of Stelara
PR Newswire
BOSTON, Dec. 8, 2025
BOSTON, Dec. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --
LEGAL NOTICE
If you purchased or paid for some or all of the purchase price of Stelara,
a class action lawsuit may affect your rights.
Your rights may be affected by a class action lawsuit regarding the price paid for Stelara by third party payors filed against Defendants Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Biotech Inc. (together, "J&J" or "the Defendants"). The Court decided that this case should be certified as a class action on behalf of the Class. The Court has not decided who is right. There is no money available now and no guarantee there will be.
What is this Case About?
This case is called CareFirst of Maryland v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 23-cv-00629 and is pending in the Eastern District of Virginia. The lawsuit alleges that the Defendants engaged in a scheme in violation of state antitrust and consumer protection laws. J&J knowingly, willfully, and improperly maintained its monopoly power and substantially reduced and harmed competition in the market for ustekinumab in the United States by: (1) fraudulently obtaining a method-of-use patent to treat ulcerative colitis, (2) wrongfully acquiring the Momenta biosimilar manufacturing patents, and then (3) asserting and/or enforcing those patents (the '307 and Momenta patents) against would-be competitors to unlawfully delay biosimilar competition. Defendants' scheme delayed the entry of biosimilar competition for J&J's brand name prescription pharmaceutical drug Stelara by at least fifteen months, causing Third-Party Payors ("TPPs") to pay supra-competitive prices for Stelara and/or its biosimilar analogs during the relevant time period. The lawsuit asserts that, as a result of J&J's alleged unlawful conduct, the prices paid for these drugs were higher than they otherwise would have been. The Plaintiffs seek to recover damages from J&J.
J&J denies these claims and that it did anything wrong. The lawyers for the Class will have to prove their claims in Court.
This is only a summary. For additional details, please read the Long-Form Notice available at www.StelaraTPPClassAction.com.
Who Is Included?
You are a member of the Class if you are a TPP and you purchased or paid for prescription drugs, described as follows:
Damages Class. All Third-Party Payers that indirectly purchased or paid for, as part of a prescription drug benefit, some or all of the purchase price for Stelara in Damages Class States or Territories1 for personal use by their members, enrollees or beneficiaries from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025 (the "class period").
You are not a member of the Class if you are among the following:
- J&J and its subsidiaries and affiliates;
- federal and state governmental entities;
- TPPs whose only purchases were made pursuant to any Medicaid plan, whether Fee-for-Service or Managed Medicaid; or
- Any entity who excluded themselves.
Who represents the Classes?
The Court has appointed a group of attorneys to represent the Class as "Class Counsel." You don't have to pay Class Counsel or anyone else to participate. Instead, if Class Counsel gets money or benefits for the Class, they will ask the Court for attorneys' fees and costs. If approved, these fees and costs would be taken from any money obtained or paid separately by J&J. You may hire your own lawyer to appear in Court for you, but if you do, you have to pay that lawyer.
Your Rights and Options
DO NOTHING: If you are a member of the Class, by doing nothing you will remain in the Class and may be entitled to share in any recovery that may come from a trial or settlement with J&J. You will be bound by any Court orders and judgments in this lawsuit as to the Class, and you will not be able to sue J&J on your own about the claims in this lawsuit relating to the Class.
EXCLUDE YOURSELF: If you want to keep your right to sue J&J on your own for the claims in this case relating to the Class, you need to exclude yourself from the Class. If you exclude yourself from the Class, you will not be bound by any of the Court's orders or judgments in this lawsuit as to the Class, nor will you be entitled to participate in and benefit from a recovery, if any, on behalf of the Class. Any dispute about your request to be excluded will be resolved by the Court. The deadline to exclude yourself is January 22, 2026. Specific instructions on how to request exclusion are included in the Long-Form Notice available at StelaraTPPClassAction.com.
The Trial
A trial is scheduled to begin on January 26, 2026 at the Walter E. Hoffman United States Courthouse, 600 Granby St., Norfolk, Virginia 23510. Any changes to the date or location of the trial will be posted on the case website.
More Information
Go to StelaraTPPClassAction.com, call 1-866-963-9975, email info@StelaraTPPClassAction.com, or write to:
Mailing address (Exclusions ONLY):
Stelara TPP Litigation
c/o A.B. Data, Ltd.
P.O. Box 173001
Milwaukee, WI 53217
Mailing address (all other correspondence):
Stelara TPP Litigation
c/o A.B. Data, Ltd.
P.O. Box 173136
Milwaukee, WI 53217
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1 The Damages Class States or Territories are Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
View original content:SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Lowey Dannenberg, P.C.
