Counsel with Kirkland & Ellis helped Sun Pharmaceutical Industries prevail in its defense of two motions for class certification and on summary judgment in a decadelong antitrust multidistrict litigation over the cholesterol drug Lipitor, where potentially more than $10 billion was at stake.

A group of Lipitor purchasers that included retailers, wholesalers, health insurance companies, and consumers sued Ranbaxy Laboratories, an affiliate of Sun Pharmaceutical, and Pfizer, alleging that a settlement reached in 2008 delayed competition by preventing a generic version of the drug from launching until November 2011. The cases were consolidated into a single action, In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, before U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan for the District of New Jersey. The plaintiffs in the present action, which included direct payors, end purchasers, and opt-out retailers, sought to certify two classes of direct and indirect purchasers of brand name and generic Lipitor, according to one of the three opinions issued in the case Thursday.