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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • January 29, 2025

    Novo Nordisk Agrees To Cap Insulin Costs At $35 In Minn. Settlement Agreement

    NEWARK, N.J. — Novo Nordisk Inc. and Minnesota reached an agreement in which the drug maker agreed to make its insulin products available to consumers in Minnesota for no more than $35 for a monthly subscription, according to a settlement agreement filed in a New Jersey federal court.

  • January 29, 2025

    Judge Finds Allegations In Design Defect Case Can’t Survive Motion To Dismiss

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge ruled that bare conclusions in an amended complaint alleging that a defective medical device failed during surgery are not enough to survive a motion to dismiss, partially granting a motion filed by the manufacturers but allowing leave to amend.

  • January 29, 2025

    Calif. Federal Judge Says Defective Port Cases Can Be Filed Directly Into MDL

    SAN DIEGO — The judge overseeing a multidistrict litigation of cases that allege that chemotherapy ports were defective and caused a multitude of injuries signed a case management order allowing all cases to be filed directly into the MDL pending in a California federal court.

  • January 28, 2025

    Destroyed Embryo Cases Consolidated In Conn. Complex Litigation Docket

    WATERBURY, Conn. — Four cases filed in a Connecticut state court alleging that a solution used during fertility-related treatments was toxic and destroyed developing embryos were transferred Jan. 27 to the state’s complex litigation docket in the Waterbury District Superior Court.

  • January 28, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case On Whether CAFA Was Triggered In Zantac Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 27 declined to review a ruling by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found that a motion to consolidate did not trigger federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), which affirmed a district court decision to remand to state court nine cases asserting personal injury claims stemming from their use of Zantac.

  • January 24, 2025

    Excess CGL Insurers Dispute Coverage For Hundreds Of Opioid Suits Against Insured

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Excess commercial general liability insurers sued their management consulting firm insured and other insurers in a Delaware court, seeking a declaration that they have no duty to defend and indemnify against more than 260 underlying lawsuits seeking to hold the insured accountable for contributing to and profiting from the opioid epidemic.

  • January 23, 2025

    Sackler Family, Purdue To Pay $7.4 Billion In Multistate Opioid Settlement

    NEW YORK — The Sackler family and their company, Purdue Pharma Inc., have agreed to contribute $7.4 billion to settle claims that they contributed to creating the opioid crisis, a coalition of states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Jan. 23 after a previous settlement reached in New York federal bankruptcy court was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 23, 2025

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

    New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.

  • January 23, 2025

    Judge Won’t Dismiss Case Alleging Lanham Act Violations Against Drugmaker

    LOS ANGELES — A pharmaceutical company has plausibly stated a claim of false and misleading advertising under the Lanham Act, a California federal judge found, denying a competitor’s motion to dismiss the case.

  • January 23, 2025

    Tepezza MDL Judge Rules On Series Of Motions To Limit Claims In Bellwether Cases

    CHICAGO — The Illinois federal judge overseeing the Tepezza hearing loss multidistrict litigation found that the remaining bellwether plaintiffs failed to state a claim for design defects but denied the drug manufacturer’s motion to dismiss the failure-to-warn claims.

  • January 22, 2025

    Co-Mediators: Settlement Negotiations Continuing In Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Case

    NEW YORK — Co-mediators who were appointed in Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy case, which is back in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code does not allow a liability release for members of the family in a multibillion-dollar opioid bankruptcy settlement, told the court in a status report that all members of the Sackler A Side and B Side family group have agreed to participate in settlements.

  • January 22, 2025

    Mylan Agrees To Pay $73M To Settle Antitrust Claims Involving EpiPen

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Mylan NV, Mylan Specialty LP and Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (collectively, Mylan) have agreed to contribute $73 million to a settlement fund to end claims that they conspired with others in an attempt to delay entry of generic competitors for the EpiPen epinephrine autoinjector (EAI) into the market, according to a motion for preliminary approval of a class action settlement agreement filed by a pharmacy and other plaintiffs.

  • January 22, 2025

    1st Circuit Dismisses Appeal Filed By NECC Pharmacy Founder Barry Cadden

    BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed as untimely an appeal filed by New England Compounding Center (NECC) founder Barry J. Cadden, who argued that a district court judge erred in refusing to reduce his sentence of 174 months for his role in a fungal meningitis outbreak.

  • January 21, 2025

    FDA Says Antiabortion States Still Lack Standing To Sue In Amended Complaint

    AMARILLO, Texas — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Jan. 18 asked a federal court in Texas to dismiss an amended complaint filed by Missouri, Kansas and Idaho in a case originated by a group of antiabortion advocates challenging the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, a case that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that the group lacked standing and in which the original plaintiffs have now voluntarily dismissed all of their claims.

  • January 21, 2025

    United States Says Walgreens Knowingly Filled Invalid Opioid Prescriptions

    CHICAGO — The United States filed a complaint in intervention in four qui tam cases against Walgreen Co. and its affiliates, alleging that the pharmacy chains violated federal law by filling millions of invalid controlled-substance prescriptions, fueling the opioid epidemic throughout the country, according to the complaint filed in an Illinois federal court.

  • January 21, 2025

    Couple, Manufacturer Work Toward Settlement For Embryo Loss During IVF Procedure

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal magistrate judge on Jan. 20 partially granted a motion to stay filed in a case against a manufacturer of sterile mineral oil by a couple who allege that the solution was toxic and led to the destruction of their embryos, noting that the parties are attempting to finalize a settlement.

  • January 17, 2025

    Opioid Plaintiff Says PBMs Unlikely To Win Privilege Order Row On Appeal

    CINCINNATI — Rochester, N.Y., a plaintiff in the nationwide opioid multidistrict litigation, on Jan. 16 opposed a motion for an emergency stay filed by two pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that the PBMs are unlikely to succeed on their efforts to bar certain documents from being produced during discovery and that the city will be harmed by the stay.

  • January 16, 2025

    Heart Pump Maker Says Wrongful Death Case Cannot Survive Preemption Argument

    ST. LOUIS — A husband and daughter failed to allege how a surgically implanted heart pump was defectively designed or how that alleged defect caused a woman’s death, the manufacturer of the device argues in a reply brief to its motion for judgment on the pleadings, urging the Missouri federal court to find that the claims are preempted by federal law.

  • January 16, 2025

    Discovery Referee Rules On Motions To Compel In Coverage Suit Over Opioid Epidemic

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A discovery referee granted in part insureds’ and insurers’ motions to compel discovery in a coverage dispute arising from the opioid epidemic brought in a North Carolina court.

  • January 16, 2025

    Mass. Federal Judge: Learned-Intermediary Doctrine Doesn’t Apply To BioZorb Case

    BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Jan. 15 rejected arguments that the learned-intermediary doctrine warranted summary judgment for claims filed by a woman selected as a bellwether plaintiff in cases alleging that an implanted radiographic marker used to mark soft tissue sites during cancer treatment was defective and caused injuries.

  • January 15, 2025

    Taxotere MDL Judge: Deceased Woman Lacked Standing; Substitution Improper

    NEW ORLEANS — A woman who was dead when her short-form complaint was filed lacked standing to sue, and a motion for substitution could not cure that jurisdictional defect, the federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation for cases alleging that the chemotherapy drug Taxotere caused eye injuries ruled in granting a motion to dismiss.

  • January 15, 2025

    Ozempic Maker Sues Seller Of Compounded Drugs, Alleging Trademark Infringement

    ATLANTA — The manufacturer of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus sued a weight-loss center in Georgia that sells and promotes compounded drug products that purport to contain semaglutide for false advertising and trademark infringement in a Georgia federal court.

  • January 13, 2025

    Pharmacy Appeals Decision Tossing Its Lanham Act Claims In OTC Cold Medicine MDL

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A pharmacy that argued that its Lanham Act claims were wrongfully dismissed in the multidistrict litigation stemming from allegations that over-the-counter cough and cold medications containing the active ingredient phenylephrine (PE) are ineffective at relieving nasal congestion on Jan. 10 filed a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • January 13, 2025

    Kroger Settles Claims With Ky., Faces New Complaint In Calif. Over Opioid Sales

    The Kentucky Attorney General announced that The Kroger Co. has agreed to a $110 million settlement to end claims that the grocery chain, whose pharmacies filled 11% of all opioid pills sold in the state from 2006 to 2019, helped fuel the opioid crisis; the announcement came two days after California filed its own complaint against Kroger, asserting that the chain ignored red flags that showed that opioid drugs were being diverted.

  • January 13, 2025

    Texas Appeals Dismissal Of Case Alleging Pfizer Misled About COVID-19 Vaccine

    LUBBOCK, Texas — Texas filed a notice of appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a Texas federal judge granted a motion to dismiss the state’s lawsuit alleging that Pfizer Inc. made false and misleading claims about the COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).