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Canadian court allows lawsuit against Valeant to proceed to trial

Québec's Court of Appeal authorized a securities class-action lawsuit against Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. to proceed to trial.

The lawsuit alleges Valeant of engaging in improper business and financial reporting practices, particularly within its relationships with specialty online pharmacy Philidor Rx Services.

The court dismissed the defendants' applications to overturn a previous judgment from the Québec Superior Court, which authorized the lawsuit in the first place.

The defendants include Valeant, certain Valeant former directors and officers, Valeant's auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and a group of underwriters.

U.S. investigators had earlier charged Valeant's former senior director, Gary Tanner, and Philidor's former CEO, Andrew Davenport, of engaging in a multimillion-dollar fraud and kickback scheme.

Tanner had allegedly worked with Davenport to promote Philidor's business, with the goal of ultimately consummating a purchase option agreement between the drugmaker and the pharmacy.

Both Tanner and Davenport pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges in a U.S. federal court in February.

The plaintiffs and investor class are represented by a consortium of Canadian law firms including Siskinds LLP, Faguy & Co., Siskinds Desmeules, Koskie Minsky LLP, Rochon Genova LLP, Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP, Morganti Legal and Investigation Counsel PC.