CSL settles US antitrust class action litigation

Australian blood products and vaccine maker CSL (ASX:CSL) has signed an agreement to settle the US antitrust class action litigation, filed by certain US and Puerto Rican hospital groups, which has been ongoing since 2009.

The settlement resolves and dismisses all claims and potential claims of class members against CSL in the law suit, as well as those against the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association, an industry trade association.

The groups, which include private hospitals and the University of Utah, launched the antitrust class action in July 2009 claiming that CSL and other plasma therapy manufacturers operating in the USA had conspired to push up the price of treatments by restricting supply.