U.S. District Court Issues Favorable Decision for IQVIA Against Veeva

May 10, 2021 at 08:00 AM EDT

Court ruled that Veeva intended to commit fraud; destroyed evidence; engaged in theft, and cover-up

IQVIA (NYSE: IQV), a global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry, today announced that the U.S. District Court of New Jersey issued a favorable decision in its litigation with Veeva Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VEEV). The Court ruled on IQVIA’s motion for sanctions, finding Veeva engaged in massive destruction of evidence, engaged in a cover-up of its wrong-doing, and repeatedly lied about its actions. The court sanctioned Veeva five separate times in the decision to punish Veeva for its violations of rules in the litigation, including multiple adverse jury instructions, limitations on the use of evidence at trial and an award of legal fees and costs. Specific language from the decision includes:

Engaging Fraud & Destruction of Evidence

“IQVIA has made a prima facie showing that Veeva was engaging or intended to engage in a crime or fraud at the time the DataDestroyed Spreadsheet was created and that the DataDestroyed Spreadsheet was used in furtherance of the alleged crime or fraud – namely, the spoliation of evidence.”

Veeva Misappropriation of IQVIA Intellectual Property

“[T]here is no dispute that IQVIA Reference Data was “programmatically” included in Veeva OpenData.”

Theft & Intentional Cover-Up

“The OpenData Data Corruption Memo indicates that Veeva was well-aware that it was misappropriating IQVIA data, something the [independent] Audit would uncover, and that the incident could lead to litigation. Rather than disclose the allegedly “minor” [client] Incident to IQVIA or the auditors, Veeva chose to cover it up, deleting evidence and directing employees not to create further evidence on the subject (such as replacing “IMS” with “***” in e-mails, not discussing the situation in chats or e-mails, and deleting chats or e-mails where the incident was discussed).”

“We are pleased with the Court’s decision, which exposes Veeva’s longstanding deceptive business practices, as well as its pattern of corporate theft,” said Harvey Ashman, senior vice president, deputy general counsel, IQVIA. “Veeva stole IQVIA intellectual property from client files, they knew it was wrong, they destroyed evidence to cover-up their wrongdoing, and then they lied about it. Veeva lied to IQVIA, the court, their clients, the media, and investors. Veeva’s disregard for intellectual property rights, contractual obligations, and the truth is clear. IQVIA looks forward to successfully resolving our ongoing litigation for the benefit of our clients and reaffirming protections for intellectual property, innovation, and investment.”

About IQVIA

IQVIA (NYSE: IQV) is a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry. IQVIA creates intelligent connections across all aspects of healthcare through its analytics, transformative technology, big data resources and extensive domain expertise. IQVIA Connected Intelligence™ delivers powerful insights with speed and agility — enabling customers to accelerate the clinical development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments that improve healthcare outcomes for patients. With approximately 72,000 employees, IQVIA conducts operations in more than 100 countries.

IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while generating and analyzing information on a scale that helps healthcare stakeholders identify disease patterns and correlate with the precise treatment path and therapy needed for better outcomes. IQVIA’s insights and execution capabilities help biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers and other healthcare stakeholders tap into a deeper understanding of diseases, human behaviors, and scientific advances, to advance their path toward cures. To learn more, visit www.iqvia.com.

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