02:26 PM EDT, 09/30/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company ( BMY ) won a dismissal of a $6.4 billion lawsuit alleging it delayed a Federal Drug Administration approval process for a Celgene drug in order to avoid paying Celgene shareholders for meeting certain milestones.

As part of its deal to acquire Celgene, Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ) issued Celgene shareholders contingent value rights, or CVRs, that would only have value if the FDA approved marketing applications for three Celgene drugs by specified milestone dates. The complaint alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ) intentionally slow-played the approval process for one therapy, causing it to miss its milestone, and the company thereby avoided paying CVR holders $6.4 billion.

The lawsuit was not brought by the CVR holders because they were prohibited from suing under the terms of the agreement. The trustee for the CVRs, Equiniti Trust, was allowed to sue, but it did not. Instead, UMB Bank, which purportedly replaced Equiniti as trustee, brought the suit.

"For the reasons that follow, the Court agrees with [Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY )] that [the plaintiff] was not properly appointed Trustee prior to filing suit and that this defect compels dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction," US District Judge Jesse Furman said in his opinion.

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