Teva Pharmaceutical Industries asked a U.S. judge to prevent the company that filed a lawsuit against it from telling a random selection of jurors that it is Israeli-based, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Teva is one of several drug makers facing a lawsuit filed by health insurance company Humana over allegations of price-fixing. The case, Humana Inc. v. Actavis Elizabeth, LLC, et al., is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
In a filing submitted on Wednesday to a federal court in Philadelphia, Teva stated, “In the period of almost three years since the start of the Gaza War, anything connected with Israel has been subject to the highest levels of controversy, with emotions running high,” Reuters reported.
The firm added that its Israeli origins are irrelevant to the case and that “references to a foreign parent company are potentially prejudicial.”
It cited a recent opinion survey that said it found 60% of Americans have a negative view of Israel. Teva also pointed to U.S. college campus protests over Israel and violent acts against individuals and institutions thought to have links to the Jewish state.
Teva denies that it had conspired with other pharmaceuticals to keep prices of drugs artificially high.
Since the war in Gaza started in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion on Oct. 7, 2023, polls have found that public opinion in the United States and other Western countries regarding Israel has become more negative, especially within the younger generation.
