Mealey's Drugs & Devices
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June 18, 2018
9th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Smith & Nephew Metal-On-Metal Hip Case
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 13 reversed dismissal of a Smith & Nephew Inc. metal-on-metal hip complaint, saying the plaintiff has or can make plausible claims that the manufacturer failed to warn about early failure rates of its Birmingham Hip Replacement (BHR) hip implants (Lori Spellman v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., No. 17-15351, 9th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 15878).
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June 18, 2018
Theranos Founder Holmes, Ex-President Indicted On Federal Fraud Charges
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Theranos Inc. Founder Elizabeth A. Holmes and former company chief operating officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were arraigned June 15 on federal criminal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against investors, doctors and patients doing business with the medical device company (United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al., No. 18-cr-258, N.D. Calif.).
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June 18, 2018
Defense Verdict Returned In Massachusetts Boston Scientific Pelvic Mesh Trial
WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court jury on June 14 returned a defense verdict in a Boston Scientific Corp. pelvic mesh trial (Ana Martinez, et al. v. Boston Scientific Corporation, et al., No. 12-3081, Mass Super., Middlesex Co.).
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June 18, 2018
Georgia Judge Largely Denies Defense Motions In AndroGel Antitrust MDL
ATLANTA — Efforts by Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. to obtain summary judgment on claims by the Federal Trade Commission that Solvay violated antitrust laws with reverse payments designed to prevent entry to the market of generic AndroGel were unsuccessful June 14, when a Georgia federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation found that the government has adequately pleaded that Solvay conspired to restrain trade (In re: AndroGel Antitrust Litigation No. II, MDL No. 2084 [All Cases], No. 1:09-md-2084, N.D. Ga., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99716).
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June 15, 2018
Illinois Appeals Court Affirms Preemption Of Medtronic Drug Pump Case
CHICAGO — An Illinois state appeals court on June 14 affirmed that a plaintiff’s claims involving an implanted drug pump are preempted, finding that the plaintiff failed to conduct discovery afforded her and to file an amended complaint that might have escaped preemption (Tracey Benyak v. Medtronic, Inc., et al., No. 1-17-2147, Ill. App., 1st Dist., 4th Div., 2018 Ill. App. Unpub. LEXIS 998).
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June 15, 2018
Opioid MDL Judge Orders Briefing On New Media Access To DEA Drug Data
CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation on June 13 ordered the parties to submit briefs on whether the court should allow two newspaper groups to access drug distribution records being produced by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for the ongoing settlement negotiations (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2804, No. 17-md-2804, N.D. Ohio).
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June 15, 2018
5th AndroGel Bellwether Trial Ends In Defense Verdict For AbbVie, Abbott
CHICAGO — The fifth AndroGel multidistrict litigation bellwether trial ended June 14 with a verdict for defendants AbbVie Inc. and Abbott Laboratories (In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2545, No. 14-1748, Robert Rowley, et al. v. AbbVie, Inc., et al., No. 15-2760, N.D. Ill.).
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June 15, 2018
Texas Creates Multidistrict Litigation For Opioid Suits By 18 Counties
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas judicial panel on Jan. 13 granted a motion by opioid defendants to centralize lawsuits by Texas counties into a multidistrict litigation (In Re: Texas Opioid Litigation, MDL No. 18-0358, Texas MDL).
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June 14, 2018
Securities Class Action Dismissed For Failure To Plead Falsity, Scienter
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on June 11 dismissed an amended shareholder complaint in its entirety and with prejudice, ruling that lead plaintiffs failed to plead falsity or scienter in making their federal securities law claims against an animal pharmaceutical company and certain of its senior executives (In re Aratana Therapeutics Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 17-880, S.D. N.Y., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98535).
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June 14, 2018
Surgical Stapler Compensatory Award OK But Punitives Cut From $70M to $19.6M
SAN FRANCISCO — A California state appeals court on June 13 affirmed a $9.82 million compensatory verdict in a defective Ethicon surgical stapler case but reduced the punitive damages award from $70 million to $19.6 million after finding that the original amount was constitutionally excessive (Florence Kuhlmann, et al. v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, et al., No. A147945, Calif. App., 1st Dist., Div. 5, 2018 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 4011).
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June 14, 2018
Intuitive Surgical Settles Da Vinci Securities Class Action For $42.5M
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Intuitive Surgical Inc. on June 13 announced that it reached an agreement in principle to settle a securities class action for $42.5 million (In Re: Intuitive Surgical Securities Litigation, No. 13-1920, N.D. Calif.).
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June 13, 2018
Lipitor MDL Plaintiffs Lose On Appeal As 4th Circuit Upholds Experts’ Rejection
RICHMOND, Va. — Finding no abuse or error in a federal judge’s exclusion of the causation opinions of three experts for thousands of women seeking to hold Pfizer Inc. liable for their diabetes, which they say was caused by using the popular cholesterol drug Lipitor, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 12 affirmed a summary judgment ruling against the plaintiffs (In Re: Lipitor [Atorvastatin calcium] Products Liability Litigation, Nos. 17-1140, 17-1136, 17-1137, 17-1189, 4th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 15752).
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June 12, 2018
6th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In Risperdal Gynecomastia Suit
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 11 reversed summary judgment in a Risperdal gynecomastia lawsuit after finding that the trial court applied the wrong Kansas statute of repose (Joseph W. Ehrenfelt v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 17-5292, 6th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 15650).
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June 12, 2018
Endo Settles All Known Testosterone Drug Cases
DUBLIN, Ireland — Endo International PLC on June 11 announced that its Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Auxilium Pharmaceuticals LLP subsidiaries have entered into a master settlement agreement to resolve “all known” testosterone replacement therapy product liability claims.
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June 11, 2018
Pennsylvania Superior Court Affirms Preemption Of Opioid Off-Label Death Claim
PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Superior Court on June 8 affirmed that a father’s claim that his son’s overdose death was caused by the off-label promotion of the opioid Actiq are preempted by federal law (Joseph A. Caltagirone, et al. v. Cephalon, Inc., et al., No. 1301 EDA 2017, Pa. Super., 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 628).
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June 8, 2018
Lundbeck To Pay $52.6M To Settle Federal Probe Into Patient Assistant Donations
VALBY, Denmark — H. Lundbeck A/S on June 6 announced that its U.S. subsidiary Lundbeck LLC has reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle an investigation into the domestic subsidiary’s donations to independent patient assistance charitable foundations for $52.6 million, according to a company press release.
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June 6, 2018
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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June 6, 2018
Separate Track Created In Opioid MDL For All 567 Indian Tribes In United States
CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation on June 4 assigned a magistrate judge to work with Native American tribes to develop a separate track for tribal claims (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2804, No. 17-2804, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Div.).
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June 6, 2018
Judge: Absence Of Pradaxa Antidote Isn’t A Design Defect
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge on May 31 granted partial summary judgment in a Pradaxa death case, saying the plaintiffs cannot argue that the lack of an antidote for the anticoagulant is a design defect (Claude R. Knight, et al. v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 15-6424, S.D. W.Va., Huntington Div., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92764).
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June 6, 2018
5th AndroGel Bellwether Trial Claiming Blood Clot Injury Under Way In MDL
CHICAGO — An AndroGel multidistrict litigation bellwether trial got under way on June 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2545, No. 14-1748, Robert Rowley, et al. v. AbbVie, Inc., et al., No. 15-2760, N.D. Ill.).