Alpha, Armour, Baxter And Bayer Settle On Hemophilia

Four health care companies, Alpha Therapeutic, Armour Pharmaceutical, Baxter Healthcare Corporation and Bayer Corporation, all involved in the processing and distribution of plasma protein therapies for the treatment of hemophilia, announced that they have made an offer of $640 million in an effort to settle claims by hemophiliacs in the USA who are HIV-positive (Marketletters passim).

The main terms of the offer put forward are as follows: a payment of $100,000 per claimant subject to a cap of $640 million. This amount includes administrative costs and attorney's fees, which are to be set by the court, and no fixed opt-out limit.

A press release issued on behalf of the four companies said that in order to speed acceptance of the offer, the fixed opt-out limit of 100 people contained in the earlier proposal has been removed. Additionally, the companies are guaranteeing that they will not exercise their right to withdraw from the offer if the number of opt-outs is 150 or less.