Perrigo Lawsuit: Omega Pharma, Irish Tax, and Infant Formula Claims

The Perrigo lawsuit landscape covers four significant matters: three securities class actions filed by investors (two resolved for a combined $128.9 million, one filed in November 2025 and still active) and a multistate antitrust case accusing the company of helping fix generic drug prices. Perrigo Company plc, an Ireland-domiciled maker of over-the-counter health products, has been defending these cases across federal courts in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

The $97 Million Omega Pharma Securities Settlement

The largest case, Roofer’s Pension Fund v. Papa et al. (No. 1:16-cv-02805), was filed May 18, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Investors accused Perrigo and executives including then-CEO Joseph Papa and former CFO Judy Brown of misleading shareholders about the integration of Perrigo’s $4.5 billion acquisition of Omega Pharma NV.¹

The dispute traced back to 2015, when Perrigo urged shareholders to reject a hostile tender offer from Mylan N.V. To defeat the bid, the company promoted strong organic growth and “tremendous revenue synergies” from the Omega deal. Months later, Perrigo disclosed sharply declining revenue and earnings and eventually recorded more than $650 million in impairment charges tied to Omega, roughly 15% of what it paid.² Papa resigned in April 2016 to lead Valeant, and the stock fell 18% in a single day.³ By the close of the class period, Perrigo shares had lost more than 62% of their April 2015 value.¹

Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb narrowed the case at the motion-to-dismiss stage in July 2018 but allowed the Omega integration claims to proceed. The court certified a class in November 2019 covering purchases between April 21, 2015, and May 2, 2017.⁴ In August 2023, Judge Bumb denied summary judgment to Perrigo and Papa, finding “material facts are disputed as to whether Papa’s statements were false and whether he acted with scienter.”³

The parties accepted a mediator’s $97 million cash proposal on March 6, 2024. The court granted final approval on September 5, 2024, approved the distribution plan on July 22, 2025, and an initial distribution to eligible claimants went out on September 15, 2025.⁴ The claim filing deadline was August 26, 2024, so new claims can no longer be submitted.¹ Two Sculptor hedge funds filed an appeal to the Third Circuit.⁵

The $31.9 Million Irish Tax Disclosure Settlement

A second securities case, In re Perrigo Company plc Securities Litigation (No. 1:19-cv-00070), was filed January 3, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The City of Boca Raton General Employees’ Pension Plan and the Palm Bay Police and Firefighters’ Pension Fund led a narrow class covering purchases from November 8 through December 20, 2018. They alleged Perrigo failed to properly disclose the size of a November 2018 amended assessment from Irish Revenue of roughly €1.6 billion in income tax related to the sale of Tysabri patents, then the largest assessment ever issued by that agency.⁶⁷

The court ruled in January 2020 that Perrigo had a duty to quantify its tax exposure after receiving the amended assessment. On July 15, 2021, the court granted summary judgment to plaintiffs on falsity and materiality, holding that Perrigo’s November 2018 Form 10-Q disclosures were false and misleading. After three mediation sessions, the parties agreed to settle for $31.9 million, with final approval entered February 16, 2022.⁶

Perrigo resolved the underlying tax dispute separately in September 2021, agreeing to pay €297 million, with a final cash outlay of €266.1 million after credits and no interest or penalties.⁸

The 2025 Infant Formula Securities Class Action

The newest Perrigo lawsuit was filed November 17, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as In re Perrigo Company PLC Securities Litigation (No. 1:25-cv-09596). The complaint names Perrigo, CEO Patrick Lockwood-Taylor, former CEO Murray Kessler, and CFO Eduardo Bezerra. It alleges the company concealed serious operational and regulatory problems at its infant formula manufacturing plant while telling investors the business was performing well.⁹

The Gateway Plant Allegations

In November 2022, Perrigo paid $170 million to acquire Nestlé’s Gateway infant formula plant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, plus U.S. and Canadian rights to the Good Start brand, planning another $60 million to expand capacity. Kessler called it the “first major initiative” of the company’s Supply Chain Reinvention program and predicted the deal would be “immediately accretive” to earnings.¹⁰

According to the complaint, the Gateway facility suffered from chronic underinvestment, including a leaking roof and aged equipment with “micro-cracks” that created heightened risk of Cronobacter bacterial contamination. Executives publicly described operations as “fully compliant and operationally reliable” and claimed the company was “achieving industry-leading quality control at near historical record production levels.”⁹

An FDA warning letter issued to Perrigo Wisconsin, LLC on August 30, 2023, following inspection findings of multiple batches of infant formula testing positive for Cronobacter, cited the company for failing to establish adequate process controls, failing to notify FDA when adulterated product left its control, and inadequate environmental monitoring.¹¹

The Alleged Stock Drops

Plaintiffs point to a sequence of disclosures that drove the share price down:

On February 27, 2024, Perrigo disclosed $35 to $45 million in remediation costs at the Gateway plant and a 50% decline in earnings per share, and the stock fell 15.14%.
On August 6, 2025, CFO Eduardo Bezerra disclosed an $11 million inventory write-off tied to production variability, and the stock dropped 11.31%.
On November 5, 2025, Perrigo announced a strategic review of the infant formula business, called the unit “less strategic,” and cut its 2025 sales and earnings outlook. Shares fell $5.09, or 25.2%, to close at $15.10, wiping out roughly $1 billion in market value in a single day.

From a class period high of $40.11 on November 1, 2022, Perrigo stock declined 62.35% to $15.10. The complaint also alleges one executive sold more than $7 million in Perrigo stock shortly after receiving a non-public FDA inspection notice identifying Cronobacter positives at Gateway.⁹

Where the Case Stands

On February 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett appointed the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 710 Pension Fund as lead plaintiff, citing approximately $2.8 million in alleged losses, and named Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC as sole lead counsel.¹² Lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint on May 13, 2026. The case remains early, with motions to dismiss, class certification, and discovery still to come.⁹

The Multistate Generic Drug Price-Fixing Case

Separate from the securities litigation, Perrigo is a defendant in a large antitrust case brought by state attorneys general. On May 2, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division executed search warrants at Perrigo’s corporate offices as part of an industry-wide investigation into generic drug pricing.¹³

In June 2020, a coalition of 51 states and territories, led by Connecticut’s attorney general, filed a third antitrust complaint naming Perrigo New York, Inc. and two Perrigo executives, Douglas Boothe and John Wesolowski. The complaint alleges Perrigo and other manufacturers conspired to inflate prices, reduce competition, and allocate markets for at least 80 topical generic drugs. The states’ investigation drew on cooperating witnesses, more than 20 million documents, and millions of phone records. Connecticut’s attorney general called the broader effort “possibly the largest domestic corporate cartel case in the history of the United States.”¹⁴

On December 3, 2025, U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, ruling that the states had “marshaled a substantial bulk of evidence” and that a reasonable juror could find the alleged practices “widespread.” Perrigo was identified as one of the “most frequent players,” with 36 of the 98 drugs at issue associated with the company. The case is set for trial in Connecticut.¹⁵

Financial Impact on Perrigo

The combined litigation and business pressures show up on Perrigo’s books. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Perrigo recorded a $1.36 billion goodwill impairment charge, driven by a sustained stock price decline, lower expected cash flows from the infant formula business, and revised expectations for the broader self-care market. The write-down produced a net loss of $1.41 billion for the quarter and $1.40 billion for the full year. Perrigo warned it could record another $350 million in goodwill impairment in early 2026 due to reallocation across new reporting segments.¹⁶

In its first-quarter 2026 earnings report, Perrigo disclosed $16.6 million in “unusual litigation” expenses for the three months ended March 28, 2026, up from $8.9 million in the same period a year earlier. The company acknowledged that “[a]dverse results with respect to pending litigation could have a material adverse impact on our operating results, cash flows and liquidity.”¹⁷

1
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. Perrigo Company plc
2
Robbins LLP. Perrigo Company plc
3
Citeline. Perrigos Tab Owed to Shareholders Nine Years After Spurning Mylans Hostile Takeover
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Perrigo Securities Litigation. Home
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GovInfo. Perrigo Institutional Investor Group v. Joseph C. Papa
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Saxena White. Perrigo Company plc
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Irish Tax Review. Perrigo and the €1.6 Billion Assessment
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Perrigo Company plc. Perrigo Resolves Irish Tax Assessment for €297 Million
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Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC. In re Perrigo Company PLC Securities Litigation
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Perrigo Company plc. Perrigo Announces Strategic Investment to Expand and Strengthen U.S. Manufacturing of Infant Formula
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Perrigo Wisconsin LLC Warning Letter
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Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC. Cohen Milstein to Rep Perrigo Investors in Formula Biz Suit
13
Perrigo Company plc. Perrigo Discloses Investigation
14
USVI Department of Justice. Generics Antitrust Press Release
15
State of Connecticut Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Tong Announces Development in Generic Drug Price-Fixing Case
16
Perrigo Company plc. Perrigo Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results
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Perrigo Company plc. Perrigo Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results