[U: May End Up Even Higher; See Below.] So, The Settlement Of The Zetia® Antitrust Litigation Cost Merck Substantially MORE Than $580 Million, Net Of Insurance?! Wow.

The Q1 2023 earnings release indicates that in Q1, Merck had made a provision for at least $573 million, for settling with only "certain" of the Zetia plaintiffs. [See important updates, here. Yikes. And. . . 10-Q discussion, here. It may be even larger.]

By Monday of this week, the company had settled with all of them, as we reported from the Norfolk, Virginia federal court filings. So this number is larger -- and the "charge" is likely NET of insurance payments.

So was the figure actually paid out to pharmacies, hospitals, pharmacy benefit managers, the government entity payors and direct purchasers, all-in (before any insurance reimbursements, to Merck or Glenmark). . . over a billion? We may never know. But one doesn't record amounts recovered from insurers into any GAAP appropriate "charge" for settled litigation (see the bottom of page 8, there). Perhaps when the SEC Form 10-Q files, we will learn more -- but here is the bit:

. . .The favorability was partially offset by a $573 million charge in the first quarter of 2023 related to settlements with certain plaintiffs in the Zetia antitrust litigation. . . .

Told ya' it was gonna' be boxcar numbers. And that is a massive black eye, for "Fast" Fred Hassan's theory of pharma product management -- just took over a decade, to arrive. Heh. Crazy.

नमस्ते