Billionaire Barry Sherman, Apotex founder, met his karma

In 1967, after completing his PhD, Sherman purchased the Empire Group of Companies from the executor of the estate of his aunt and uncle, Beverley and Louis Lloyd Winter, as both had died seventeen days apart in November 1965, leaving four orphaned young children: Paul Timothy, Jeffrey Andrew, Kerry Joel Dexter, and Dana Charles. Prior to the purchase, Empire was the first to secure the compulsory rights to manufacture Hoffman-La Roche's Valium (diazepam), and was one of Canada's largest manufacturers of Pfizer's Vibramycin (doxycycline), Upjohn Company's Orinase (tolbutamide), and the dietary sweetener saccharin. To facilitate the corporate acquisition, Sherman along with his high school friend, Joel Ulster (Sherman and Ulster Limited), offered 5% equity options to each of the four children and a 15-year royalty on four of its patented products.

University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran noted: "Canadians pay more for generic drugs than almost every other country. He sought to manipulate our system to enrich himself and impoverish Canadian patients who used his drugs", he said. Sherman was known to cross ethical lines and "fought as many as 100 battles at a time in court to challenge drug patents and make way for Apotex’s generic prescriptions".

In 2011 the Winter children's estate sued Sherman and Royal Trust concerning the purchase of the corporate assets and brands from the Winter children's estate, alleging in court that Sherman and his partner never paid the royalties nor provided the promised equity in the businesses. The cousins were seeking a 20% interest in Apotex or damages of $1 billion. Sherman responded with withdrawing millions of dollars in financial assistance to his cousins. The cousins' statement of claim contended that Sherman "had offered the financial assistance in the first place in order to make the cousins dependent on him, and to keep them from learning about their rights to the business". In September 2017, an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled against the cousins saying the case was "wishful thinking, and beyond fanciful." At the time of the judgement, a lawyer for the cousins said they would appeal, though no appeal occurred, and Sherman died a few months later under unknown circumstances.
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