Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • July 23, 2026

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment In 1 Of Last Zimmer M/L Taper Hip Cases

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on July 22 found that opinions offered by an expert retained by one of the few plaintiffs remaining in the M/L Taper hip multidistrict litigation are unreliable and that he could not establish what caused the man’s device to fracture; the judge also granted summary judgment to the manufacturer because of the exclusion of the expert testimony.

  • July 23, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • July 23, 2026

    Judge Rejects APA Claims Against FDA In Defective Spinal Cord Stimulators Cases

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge held that because the manufacturer of a spinal cord stimulator did not invoke preemption until it filed its motion to dismiss, plaintiffs who allege that they were injured by the device lacked standing to bring claims under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when they filed the complaint and granted the agency’s motion to dismiss in a series of cases.

  • July 23, 2026

    Insulin Pump Maker Moves To Dismiss Wrongful Death Case On Preemption Grounds

    DENVER — The manufacturer of an insulin pump that a father alleges malfunctioned and led to the death of his son moved to dismiss the wrongful death complaint in a Colorado federal court, contending that each claim is expressly preempted by federal law and fails as a matter of law.

  • July 23, 2026

    Parties Debate How Pilot Cases Should Proceed In Depo-Provera MDL After Settlement

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — The manufacturers of Depo-Provera, a long-lasting injectable contraceptive that allegedly caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, recommended three cases to serve as replacement pilot cases in the multidistrict litigation in a Florida federal court after the parties have reached a settlement agreement to resolve all cases that “meet the eligibility criteria agreed to by the Parties”; the women whose cases were suggested responded with varying degrees of opposition to the designation.

  • July 22, 2026

    3rd Circuit Vacates Certification Of Third-Party Payers Class In Avandia MDL

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 21 vacated the certification of a class of third-party payers (TPPs) who paid for prescriptions for Avandia after finding that the statistical evidence presented in the district court to prove that alleged fraud by GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK) caused them to pay more for diabetes drug showed proof of correlation but failed to meet the appropriate causation standard.

  • July 22, 2026

    Novo Nordisk Reports Settlement Progress With Compounded Semaglutide Seller

    NEWARK, N.J. — An attorney representing the manufacturer of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus told a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey that the drugmaker and an aesthetic medical practice facing allegations that it improperly marketed and sold compounded drug products that purport to contain semaglutide are continuing their efforts to settle the case.

  • July 22, 2026

    Women Ask Judge To Reconsider Order Dismissing Suit Alleging Faulty Embryo Tests

    DENVER —A Colorado federal judge’s ruling that dismissed a putative class action filed by women who allege that a company made false and misleading representations to consumers about its preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) “essentially imposes a burden that is scientifically and practically impossible to satisfy due to the very design of the technology at issue; a fact Plaintiffs are prepared to establish through expert opinion,” the women argue in a motion for reconsideration.

  • July 22, 2026

    Man Files 3rd Amended Complaint Alleging Defective Femoral Nail Injury

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A man who alleges that a femoral nail product broke after it was placed in his knee filed his third amended complaint after the first complaint was dismissed without prejudice for failure to identify the specific product that he claims was defectively designed and the second amended complaint was dismissed without prejudice after the manufacturer filed an unopposed motion to dismiss one count.

  • July 22, 2026

    Miss. Federal Judge Trims Claims Against Surgical Robot Maker But Allows Amendment

    JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge partially granted a motion to dismiss filed by a surgical robotic navigation and guidance system manufacturer but found that the failure of a man who alleges he was injured by the device when it malfunctioned to specifically cite the Mississippi Products Liability Act (MPLA) is not fatal to his claims.

  • July 21, 2026

    Judge: D.C. Circuit Petition Filing Stops Review Of New Drug Application Challenge

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pharmaceutical company’s filing of a petition with the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s denial of a new drug application (NDA) deprived the district court of jurisdiction to hear the company’s argument that the FDA erred or to consider whether the employee who made the decision was improperly appointed, a federal judge in the District of Columbia held.

  • July 21, 2026

    Mifepristone Makers, FDA Say Louisiana Lacks Standing In Dispensing Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The manufacturers of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration filed separate briefs urging the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a district court’s denial of Louisiana’s motion to stay the FDA’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the drug, arguing that there was no abuse of discretion by the district court and that the state lacks standing to bring the case.

  • July 14, 2026

    2nd Circuit Vacates Expert Exclusions, Restores Suits In Acetaminophen-Autism MDL

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 13 vacated rulings excluding the testimony of four general causation experts retained by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the resulting judgments, remanding to the multidistrict litigation judge, who had dismissed the cases for lack of causation.

  • July 10, 2026

    Centralization Of Cases Against Additional Spinal Cord Device Manufacturers Sought

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) granted Nevro LLC and Globus Medical Inc. an extension to respond to a transfer motion filed by individuals who allege that they were injured by defective spinal cord stimulators and ask that their cases be centralized in a multidistrict litigation, separate from the one pending against Boston Scientific.

  • July 09, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • July 09, 2026

    Medtronic Removes Insulin Pump Wrongful Death Suit To Washington Federal Court

    TACOMA, Wash. — The manufacturer of an insulin pump removed to a Washington federal court a wrongful death complaint alleging that a defect in the device caused a man to die from diabetic ketoacidosis, asserting that complete diversity exists between the parties and that “given the nature of the alleged injuries and damages being sought, it is likely the amount-in-controversy exceeds $75,000.”

  • July 09, 2026

    5th Circuit Sets Argument Date In Case Debating In-Person Visits For Mifepristone

    NEW ORLEANS — The en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear oral argument on Sept. 9 in a review of a panel ruling that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, after the U.S. Supreme Court put the decision on hold.

  • July 09, 2026

    Judge Allows Most Claims In Mesh Implant Design Defect Case To Move Forward

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge largely denied a motion for summary judgment filed by the manufacturer of a surgical mesh implant but found that without evidence of intentional misconduct or gross negligence, punitive damages are not warranted.

  • July 07, 2026

    GLP-1 Eye Injury MDL Judge Approves Early Discovery On Causation, Preemption

    PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation of cases alleging that the use of glucagon-like peptide-I receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medications caused permanent vision loss has granted the drug manufacturers’ “request for early discovery and motion practice as to the cross cutting issues of general causation and preemption/warning adequacy.”

  • July 07, 2026

    Woman Files Class Action Against AbbVie Over Alleged Juvederm Warning Omissions

    CHICAGO — The manufacturer of a hyaluronic acid (HA) filler injection failed to warn consumers of the risk of developing hard masses called granulomas, “hard lumps that appear lighter or darker than the surrounding skin and can be exceedingly painful to touch,” a woman alleges in a putative class action complaint filed in an Illinois federal court.

  • July 02, 2026

    Ark. Federal Judge Schedules Meeting To Discuss Toe Joint Implant MDL Proceedings

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The federal judge in Arkansas overseeing the multidistrict litigation alleging that a synthetic cartilage implant device used to treat arthritis in a toe joint was defective has set a “hearing to conduct an initial organizational meeting” and will consider a proposal for the organization of plaintiffs’ counsel, among other issues.

  • July 02, 2026

    Colorado Federal Judge Agrees To Dismiss Suit Alleging Embryo Tests Were Faulty

    DENVER — A Colorado federal judge dismissed without prejudice a complaint filed by a putative class of women who said a company made false and misleading representations to consumers about its preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A), agreeing with the company that the women lack standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

  • July 02, 2026

    Judge Won’t Approve Consent Judgment Reached By Lilly, Others In Tirzepatide Suit

    INDIANAPOLIS — A joint motion for a consent judgment and permanent injunction filed by Eli Lilly & Co. and companies that it sued for advertising their tirzepatide products as equivalent to Lilly’s FDA-approved drug “is premised on a confidential settlement agreement that the Court has not seen,” an Indiana federal judge said and denied the motion.

  • July 02, 2026

    Centralization Of Cases Against Abbott Sought For Spinal Cord Device Injuries

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Individuals who allege that they were injured by defective spinal cord stimulators manufactured by Abbott Laboratories ask the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) to centralize all pending cases against the manufacturer after the panel previously created an MDL that included only cases against Boston Scientific Corp.

  • July 02, 2026

    Judge Finds No Error In Discovery Ruling In Benicar MDL Attorney Fees Dispute

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge found no legal basis to reverse a magistrate judge’s ruling on a discovery issue in a lawsuit stemming from claims that an improper amount of attorney fees was awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation.