Mealey's Drugs & Devices
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October 02, 2019
Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices
New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
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October 02, 2019
Johnson & Johnson Says It’s Settled Ohio Counties’ Opioid Suit For $20.4M
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson has reached a $20.4 million settlement with two Ohio counties to head off an Oct. 21 opioid multidistrict litigation bellwether trial, the company said in an Oct. 1 press release (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2801, No. 17-md-2804, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Div.).
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October 02, 2019
Cancer Treatment Facilities Appeal Preemption Of Drug Underfill Ruling
DENVER — Thirty-eight cancer treatment facilities on Sept. 24 told the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a district court erred in ruling that federal preemption bars their claims that drug maker Genentech Inc. sold them adulterated vials of the chemotherapy drug Herceptin that were underfilled (In Re: MDL 2700 Genentech Herceptin, et al., No. 19-5035, 10th Cir.).
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October 01, 2019
Judge In ASR Hip MDL Vacates Arbitration Award Made Outside Of Master Settlement
CLEVELAND — An Ohio federal judge on Sept. 30 denied a plaintiff attorney’s motion to confirm an arbitration award for attorney fees in a DePuy ASR hip case, saying the master settlement agreement for the ASR multidistrict litigation has authority for all attorney fee disputes (Andrea K. Drake, et al. v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., et al., No. 13-dp-20140, N.D. Ohio, Western Div., U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169306).
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October 01, 2019
Insys Sells Flagship Opioid Subsys In Bankruptcy Proceeding
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge on Sept. 19 approved the sale of the opioid drug Subsys to BTcP Pharma LLC (In Re: Insys Therapeutics, Inc., et al., No. 19-11292, D. Del. Bkcy.).
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September 30, 2019
SEC Seeks Entry Of Judgment For $30M EpiPen Classification Settlement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mylan N.V. will pay $30 million to settle claims brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the pharmaceutical company misclassified its EpiPen epinephrine autoinjector as a generic product to avoid paying rebates to the Medicaid program, according to a consent motion for entry of final judgment filed by the SEC on Sept. 27 in the District of Columbia federal court (Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mylan N.V., No. 19-2904, D. D.C.).
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September 30, 2019
1st Taxotere Hair Loss MDL Bellwether Trial Ends With Defense Verdict
NEW ORLEANS — The first bellwether trial in the Taxotere hair loss multidistrict litigation ended Sept. 26 with a verdict for defendant Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC (Barbara Earnest v. Sanofi Aventis U.S. LLC, et al., No. 16-17144, E.D. La.).
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September 30, 2019
California Judge Weighs Verdict In State’s Pelvic Mesh Consumer Case
SAN DIEGO — A California state court judge is weighing a verdict in California’s pelvic mesh unfair competition and false advertising lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson following closing arguments Sept. 26 at the end of the nine-week trial (California v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., No. 37-2016-00017229-CU-MC-CTL, Calif. Super., San Diego Co.).
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September 30, 2019
Valsartan MDL Judge Denies Defense Motion For Litigation Funding Disclosure
CAMDEN, N.J. — The New Jersey federal judge overseeing the valsartan multidistrict litigation on Sept. 18 denied a motion by multiple defendants to require plaintiffs to disclose if they are being financial backed by litigation funding, finding that the information is irrelevant and that there’s no showing that lawsuit financiers are real parties-in-interest that control the litigation (In Re: Valsartan N-Nitrosodimethylamine Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2875, No. 19-2875, D. N.J., Camden Vicinage).
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September 30, 2019
Johnson & Johnson Asks Oklahoma High Court To Take Up Opioid Verdict Appeal
TULSA, Okla. — Johnson & Johnson on Sept. 25 filed a motion asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to take jurisdiction over what it called a “protective appeal” of a trial court’s $572 million opioid public nuisance judgment against it (Oklahoma, et al. v. Purdue Pharma, L.P., et al., No. 11872, Okla. Sup.).
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September 27, 2019
Plaintiffs Seek To Expand Valsartan MDL To Include 2 Similar Drugs
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on Sept. 26 heard arguments on a plaintiffs’ motion to expand the scope of the valsartan NDMA multidistrict litigation to include losartan and irbesartan (In Re: Valsartan Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2875, JPMDL).
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September 27, 2019
Drug Maker Avanir Charged, Pays $115.86M To Settle Civil, Criminal Kickback Claims
Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. was charged with paying kickbacks to a prescriber and will pay $115.86 million in a criminal penalty, forfeiture and a civil false claims settlement the U.S. Justice Department announced in a Sept. 26 press release.
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September 26, 2019
Opioid MDL Plaintiffs Want Bankruptcy Court To Liquidate Opioid Maker Insys
WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs from the opioid multidistrict litigation on Sept. 25 filed a motion asking a Delaware bankruptcy court to convert Insys Therapeutics Inc.’s bankruptcy from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 (In Re: Insys Therapeutics, Inc., et al., No. 19-11292, D. Del. Bkcy.).
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September 26, 2019
6th Circuit Orders Opioid MDL Court, 2 Ohio Counties To Answer Mandamus Petition
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 25 ordered the opioid multidistrict litigation court and two Ohio counties to answer a mandamus petition filed by the state of Ohio seeking to dismiss or stay the counties’ Oct. 21 trial against seven opioid defendants (In Re: Ohio, No. 19-3827, 6th Cir.).
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September 26, 2019
Opioid MDL Judge Won’t Disqualify Himself
CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge presiding over the opioid multidistrict litigation on Sept. 26 denied a motion by five defendants to disqualify himself, saying he is not biased in favor of settlement and that the defendants waived their rights to seek disqualification by waiting 18 months into the litigation (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2801, No. 17-md-2804, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Div.).
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September 26, 2019
Federal Trade Commission Warns 7 About ‘Deceptive’ Drug Injury TV Ads
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission on Sept. 24 issued a press release stating that its staff has sent letters to seven unidentified legal practitioners and “lead generators” expressing the agency’s concerns that some television ads soliciting clients allegedly injured by drugs may be deceptive under the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 41-58.
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September 25, 2019
Stock-Drop Suit Claims Against Drug Maker Dismissed; Class Certification Denied
BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Sept. 23 ruled that a lead plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuit against a drug company and certain of its current and former senior executives failed to sufficiently establish the necessary causal link between the defendants’ alleged misrepresentations during the class period and any claimed economic loss by the lead plaintiff to support his federal securities law claims (Tim Karth v. Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., et al., No. 16-11745, D. Mass., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161626).
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September 25, 2019
4th Circuit Dismisses 2nd Appeal Of Pelvic Mesh MDL Fee Awards
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 23 dismissed without comment an appeal by an Ohio plaintiffs’ law firm that challenged a common benefit fee order by the pelvic mesh multidistrict litigation court (Anderson Law Offices, et al. v. Common Benefit Fee and Cost Committee, No. 19-1850, 4th Cir.).
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September 25, 2019
Claims Trimmed In Stock Drop Suit Against Obesity Drug Maker
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on Sept. 23 ruled that the lead plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuit has sufficiently pleaded scienter and loss causation for several, but not all, of his federal securities law claims against a pharmaceutical company and certain of its senior executives based on alleged misstatements the defendants made regarding the success of a clinical study the company conducted for its obesity treatment drug (Karim Khoja v. Orexigen Therapeutics Inc., et al., No. 15-540, S.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162366).
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September 25, 2019
United States: NECC Lead Pharmacist Should Get More Jail Time, Higher Forfeiture
BOSTON — The United States in a Sept. 21 brief tells the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the former lead pharmacist of the New England Compounding Center (NECC) should get more jail time and be ordered to pay a higher forfeiture amount for the pharmacist’s role in the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak (United States v. Glenn A. Chin, No. 18-1263, 18-1310-18-1500, 1st Cir.).