B-MS settles class action on omapatrilat

US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb that US District Judge Stanley Chesler has entered preliminary approval of a settlement agreement with plaintiffs in the consolidated securities class action litigation, pending in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, relating to the B-MS' now abandoned investigational compound, omapatrilat (Vanlev).

Under the proposed settlement, B-MS will pay $185.0 million to create a settlement fund to pay the claims of certain investors who purchased the firm's common stock during the period from October 19, 1999 through March 20, 2002. The company has established a reserve in the amount of the fund. The settlement also includes provisions regarding B-MS' commitment to the public disclosure of the results of certain clinical studies, and the registration of trials on an appropriate publicly-accessible database. The settlement was entered into without any admission of wrongdoing by the company. Notice to potentially eligible claimants will be mailed out in early March 2006. The settlement is subject to certain conditions, including the District Court's review and final approval at a fairness hearing, which is scheduled for May 11. There is no assurance that such conditions will be satisfied, the firm notes.