Beshear Urges Kentuckians To File Claims On Settlement Over Pharmaceutical Company’s Sleep Disorder Drug Provigil

Attorney General Andy Beshear is urging Kentuckians who purchased Provigil to file their claims as part of the more than $1 million settlement his office secured with pharmaceutical company Cephalon last year over its anticompetitive conduct to protect profits from its sleep disorder drug.

As part of the settlement, Kentuckians who used the drug will receive a portion of roughly $760,000. Kentucky’s Medicaid program will receive nearly $500,000 as part of the settlement.

Kentuckians eligible to file claims are those who paid for the brand-name drug Provigil or its generic Modafinil from June 24, 2006, to March 31, 2012. Beshear and a group of attorneys general were recently granted a request to the courts to extend the time to file claims on the settlement to June 25, 2017. The deadline to file claims was originally the middle of April.

“My office asked the court for additional time so that more Kentuckians could receive restitution,” Beshear said. “As attorney general, I am committed to pursuing anyone who defrauds consumers and our government, and my office will continue to monitor the settlement and work with Kentuckians who may need assistance in filing their claims.”

Kentuckians may obtain a claim form by visiting www.StateAGProvigilSettlement.com or by calling 877-236-1413.

The settlement ends a multistate investigation into Cephalon, headquartered in Pennsylvania. Cephalon is a wholly owned subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals.

According to the settlement, the company’s anticompetitive actions delayed generic versions of Provigil, which is used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by sleep apnea, narcolepsy or shift work sleep disorder from entering the market for several years. As patent and regulatory barriers that prevented generic competition to Provigil neared expiration, the company intentionally defrauded the federal government to secure an additional patent.