Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY.US) is accused of delaying the approval of cancer drugs and is facing a lawsuit of $6.7 billion.

The US pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY.US) is facing a $6.7 billion lawsuit on Thursday, accusing the company of deceiving former Celgene shareholders by delaying federal approval of three drugs. Just a month and a half before this new lawsuit, a US federal judge unexpectedly dismissed an earlier version of the case. The lawsuit alleges that Bristol-Myers Squibb Company intentionally delayed seeking approval for drugs, including its key cancer drug Breyanzi, causing contingent value rights (CVR) holders to lose an additional $9 per share in cash. The lawsuit claims that Bristol-Myers Squibb Company did this to avoid significant capital expenditures, and even suspects this was done to avoid paying an additional $9 per share to CVR holders. In 2021, UMB Bank, on behalf of CVR holders, filed a lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, claiming that the company intentionally slowed down the approval process for Breyanzi, especially by failing to timely provide relevant documents for review on December 29, 2020. Ultimately, Breyanzi received FDA approval in February 2021, but missed the deadline set forth in the CVR agreement. On September 30, Manhattan federal judge Jesse Furman ruled that UMB Bank was never officially appointed as trustee to represent CVR holders. He stated that this inexplicable failure doomed UMBs early lawsuit to fail after another trustee was appointed, and 17 months had passed since Bristol-Myers Squibb Company completed its $80.3 billion acquisition of Celgene. Furthermore, the court stated that there was no evidence of intentional delay or fraud by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. In the Thursday complaint, UMB stated that it has addressed the judges concerns and has been confirmed as trustee, and therefore has standing to sue. The latest lawsuit shows Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's estimated liability at $6.7 billion, higher than the $6.4 billion mentioned in earlier court filings. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and their lawyers did not immediately respond to media interview requests after market trading hours. UMBs legal team also did not immediately respond to another interview request. On February 5, 2021, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's Breyanzi received official FDA approval for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, five weeks after the deadline for CVR holders. The case is UMB Bank NA v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, in the Southern District of New York, with case number 24-08668. On November 21, 2019, US pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced that it had obtained all regulatory approvals required for the acquisition of Celgene, and had received approval from both companies' shareholders on April 12, 2019, officially completing the acquisition. After the acquisition, Celgene became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and the integration of Celgene undoubtedly enhanced Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's product line and research and development capabilities in oncology, hematology, immunology, and cardiovascular diseases. The completion of the massive acquisition of Celgene by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is one of the largest mergers in the history of the global pharmaceutical industry. Under the agreement, Celgene shareholders received one Bristol-Myers Squibb Company share, $50 in cash, and a tradable contingent value right (CVR) for each Celgene share, with the possibility of receiving an additional $9 in cash if certain regulatory milestones are met in the future.