IQVIA INC.et al v. VEEVA SYSTEMS, INC.

District Court, D. New Jersey·Decided July 11, 2019·No. 2:17-cv-00177·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

| Case No,: 2:17-CV-00177-CCC-MF IQVIA, INC. and IMS SOFTWARE SERVICES, LTD, Plaintiffs/ Counterclaim Defendants, VS. ORDER & OPINION OF THE SPECIAL MASTER VEEVA SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant/ Counterclaim Plaintiff.

This matter comes before the Special Master on Defendant-Counterclaim Plaintiff Veeva Systems, Inc.’s (“Veeva”) motion to compel Plaintiffs-Counterclaim Defendants IQVIA, Inc. and IMS Software Services, LTD, (collectively “IQVIA”) to produce documents relating to: (1) Cegedim’s TPA policy and TPA decisions with respect to OneKey (whether the vendor is Veeva or a third party); (2) Cegedim’s pricing of OneKey in any non-U.S. geography, including Europe and any European regions or nations; (3) Cegedim’s sale of OneKey, including customer lists, win-loss records, and invoice data; and (4) OneKey financial information, including revenue, profit, and cost. After considering the submissions of the parties, based upon the following, it is the opinion of the Special Master that Veeva’s motion is GRANTED in part. DISCUSSION Arpuments Veeva’s Arguments By way of background, Veeva explains that it alleges that IQVIA participated in a group boycott conspiracy with Cegedim, a European company that IQVIA competed against before acquiring its CRM and data business, including Cegedim’s OneKey product. Veeva alleges that ]

although they were direct competitors, IQVIA and Cegedim conducted a coordinated campaign to categorically deny Veeva access to the MDM market, including through Cegedim’s exclusionary TPA policy. In its counterclaims, Veeva specifically alleges: “IQVIA and Cegedim’s anticompetitive conduct outside of the United States has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on domestic commerce, as well as Veeva’s ability to export products from the United States. That anticompetitive conduct also gave rise to Veeva’s antitrust counterclaims.” Veeva argues that the Special Master’s March 28, 2018 Order compelled IQVIA to produce “relevant documents rclated to the United States and global or geographic areas including the United States. After reviewing IQVIA’s production of foreign documents with a nexus to the United States, Veeva determined that additional relevant foreign documents exist and are important to proving its counterclaims. Pursuant to the Special Master’s Order, the parties then met and conferred. According to Veeva, IQVIA refuses to produce these four specific categories of documents related to OneKey, claiming that the documents have no reasonably foreseeable impact on U.S. commerce and that producing them would be unduly burdensome and disproportionate to the needs of the case. Veeva asserts that IQVIA, the party resisting the discovery, has the burden of clarifying and explaining its objections and providing support therefor. Veeva argues that the Cegedim documents are relevant. According to Veeva, IQVIA’s assertion that the documents concern conduct that has no reasonably foreseeable impact on U.S. commerce fails both legally and factually. Veeva asserts that Judge Cecchi’s denial of IQVIA’s motion to dismiss forecloses IQVIA’s argument as the argument that Cegedim’s exclusionary conduct is beyond the reach of the Sherman Act because it took place overseas was already

considered and rejected by Judge Cecchi. Additionally, Veeva argues that the standard is not whether the documents have a reasonably foreseeable impact on U.S. commerce as numerous decisions have stated that foreign documents relating to antitrust allegations are relevant under Rule 26(b) without evaluating their effect on U.S. commerce. Veeva further asserts that the requested Cegedim information is relevant for liability, product market definition, market power, and damages. Veeva maintains that its request for Cegedim’s TPA policy and TPA decisions with respect to OneKey (whether the vendor is Veeva or a third party), bears on the subject matter of the action because that conduct forms the heart of Veeva’s group boycott claim. Veeva explains that in its counterclaim it alleges that Cegedim, as soon as its merger with IQVIA was announced (and before the merger was consummated), began to refuse to sign any TPA agreements unless they explicitly excluded Veeva MDM products. Veeva thus alleges a coordinated campaign by Cegedim and IQVIA to deny Veeva access to the MDM software market in violation of antitrust laws. Veeva argues that similarly, IQVIA cannot show that information related to Cegedim’s pricing and sale of OneKey is irrelevant. According to Veeva, Cegedim’s pricing of OneKey sheds light on the relevant product market (e.g. uniform pricing across geographic regions could help establish a larger market), on market power (e.g. the pricing may far cxceed cost or pricing in other regions), and on damages (e.g. what Veeva’s reference product might have been able to eam in Europe had it not been for LQVIA and Cegedim’s exclusionary conduct). Veeva argues the same analysis applies to OneKey sales information and financial information. Veeva also argues that in any event, even if IQVIA were entitled to produce only documents that have a reasonably foreseeable effect on U.S. commerce, the requested Cegedim documents satisfy that criterion. Veeva explains that Cegedim's European conduct had a direct,

substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on U.S. commerce because the data markets and software markets are complementary and intertwined. Veeva believes life sciences companies prefer to standardize purchases across the world thus it explains that if a company relies on Cegedim OneKey in France and Veeva OpenData in the Unites States, it would need both Cegedim and Veeva to sign a TPA with whichever MDM provider it chooses. Under thesc circumstances, if Cegedim refuses to sign a TPA for Veeva’s MDM, then the health sciences company would be unable to use Veeva’s MDM worldwide, which would result in it choosing a different MDM provider. Therefore, Veeva explains that although Cegedim’s conduct in this scenario took place entirely in France, its actions had a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the MDM market in the United States. Vecva further asserts that because the data and software products are complementary, such foreign conduct also has a foreseeable effect on the Reference Data market in the Unites States, as the company is less likely to choose Veeva OpenData when it passes on Vecva’s MDM Software. Veeva points to Hartford Fire Insurance Company, where the Supreme Court held that manipulation in Europe of the market for one product (reinsurance) had a reasonably foreseeable effect in the U.S. market for a closely related product (insurance). Veeva believes this matter is the same, just with Reference Data substituted for reinsurance and MDM substituted for insurance. Veeva argues that each of the six proportionality factors favor it. Veeva believes the issues at stake relating to Veeva’s counterclaims are important as IQVIA’s alleged anti- competitive conduct harms life sciences customers, and ultimately consumers that take drugs. Veeva argues that IQVIA’s anticompetitive conduct prevents those companies from using Veeva products, reduces choice, raises customer cost, and excludes Veeva from the market. The amount

in controversy is hundreds of millions of dollars. Vceva asserts that the case is important for it and the marketplace. As for the parties’ relative access to information, Veeva argues it cannot gain access to IQVIA’s internal sales, commercial, and marketing information without discovery. Veeva asserts that this is direct evidence of the product market, anticompetitive conduct, and damages that prove Veeva’s case. Veeva further asserts that IQVIA has a large and well- resourced legal and financial department.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

IQVIA INC.et al v. VEEVA SYSTEMS, INC., (D.N.J. 2019).

IQVIA INC.et al v. VEEVA SYSTEMS, INC. (IQVIA INC.et al v. VEEVA SYSTEMS, INC.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related