Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • July 26, 2024

    2nd Circuit Says Plaintiffs Must Show Intent To Trigger CAFA, Affirms Remand

    NEW YORK — Citing the “consistent desire” of plaintiffs asserting personal injury claims stemming from their use of Zantac “to avoid federal jurisdiction,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed that a motion to consolidate did not trigger federal jurisdiction and affirmed a district court decision to remand nine cases to state court.

  • July 26, 2024

    Judge Partially Grants Amazon’s Motion To Dismiss Contaminated Eye Drops Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania agreed to dismiss certain claims against Amazon.com Inc. in a woman’s suit alleging that use of artificial tears that were contaminated with bacteria resulted in her eye being surgically removed.

  • July 25, 2024

    9th Circuit: Other States Can’t Intervene In Suit Over Mifepristone Regulations

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 24 said it was “guided . . . by the Supreme Court's recent decision on standing and the FDA's regulation of mifepristone in FDA v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. 602 U.S. 367 (2024)” and denied a motion filed by Idaho and other anti-abortion states to intervene in a case involving federal regulations for the abortion drug mifepristone.

  • July 25, 2024

    Judge Partly Dismisses Hip Replacement Patient’s Suit Over Defective Implant

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss filed by several companies involved in the manufacture and sale of a prosthetic hip replacement who are accused of causing a patient injuries and lost wages after his implant began releasing toxic metals into his body, finding that the patient’s claims, including for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), are not preempted by federal authority.

  • July 23, 2024

    4th Circuit Finds Lower Court Erred In Excluding Testimony In Pelvic Mesh Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 22 found that based on answers to questions certified to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a district court erred in excluding testimony from a woman’s expert in a pelvic mesh case and vacated a judgment that found in favor of the device manufacturer.

  • July 22, 2024

    Massachusetts Federal Judge Denies Barry Cadden’s Motion To Reduce His Sentence

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge denied a request by New England Compounding Center (NECC) founder Barry J. Cadden to reduce his sentence of 174 months for his role in a fungal meningitis outbreak after finding that Cadden is not eligible for a sentence reduction under a recent amendment to the U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines.

  • July 18, 2024

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • July 18, 2024

    Judge Grants Approval To $50M Settlement To End Antitrust Claims Involving EpiPen

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge has signed off on final approval to a settlement agreement in which Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay $50 million to settle claims that it conspired with others in an attempt to delay entry of generic competitors for the EpiPen epinephrine autoinjector (EAI) into the market.

  • July 18, 2024

    CPAP MDL Judge Sets Date For Medical Monitoring Settlement Hearing

    PITTSBURGH — The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices will hold a final fairness hearing on Oct. 30 on a $25 million settlement to resolve medical monitoring claims in the MDL.

  • July 18, 2024

    Arbitration Agreement Not Binding, But Judge Says Device Claims Preempted

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — The legal screen used to set up an app to connect a medical device that detects blood glucose levels to a personal mobile device such as an iPhone did not clearly make a user aware that she was agreeing to arbitrate all claims, a Louisiana federal judge ruled, but he partially granted the manufacturer’s motion to dismiss claims as preempted by federal law.

  • July 18, 2024

    Judge Overseeing Diabetes And Diet Drug MDL OKs Direct Filings Of New Complaints

    PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge newly appointed to oversee the multidistrict litigation involving diabetes and diet drugs that consumers allege caused gastrointestinal and other injuries signed five case management orders, including an order that directs any potential plaintiff to file directly into the MDL.

  • July 17, 2024

    Lawsuit Alleging Injury From Fen-Phen Drugs Survives Motion To Dismiss

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on July 16 found that a woman’s complaint alleging that she was injured after ingesting fen-phen diet drugs “contains plausible failure-to-warn claims” and denied the drug manufacturer’s motion to dismiss.

  • July 17, 2024

    3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of 1,189 Shingles Cases For Failure to Prove Causation

    PHILADELPHIA — A district court judge did not abuse his discretion in dismissing 1,189 cases in the Zostavax shingles vaccine multidistrict litigation after the plaintiffs failed to provide prima facie evidence that their shingles were caused by the Oka strain of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) used to make the vaccine rather than the “wild-type” of the virus from childhood chickenpox infections, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed July 16.

  • July 17, 2024

    N.J. Federal Judge Remands Case Alleging Injury From CoolSculpting Procedure

    NEWARK, N.J. — AbbVie Inc., whose subsidiary manufactured a medical device that a woman claims caused an injury, “failed to carry its heavy burden” of showing that a defendant had been fraudulently joined, a New Jersey federal judge ruled, remanding the case to state court.

  • July 16, 2024

    Georgia Federal Judge Consolidates Claims In Pelvic Mesh Design Defect Case

    ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge partially granted a motion by Johnson & Johnson to consolidate several of a woman’s claims that she was injured by the company’s pelvic mesh product and dismissed her manufacturing defect claims.

  • July 15, 2024

    3M Moves To Dismiss Cases That Failed To Substitute Party After Notice Of Death

    MINNEAPOLIS — Defendants in the Bair Hugger multidistrict litigation moved to dismiss five plaintiffs with prejudice because in each case, “the plaintiff passed away more than five years ago, and the deadline to move to substitute a new plaintiff has long-since passed.”

  • July 15, 2024

    NECC Pharmacy Founder Barry Cadden Argues His Sentence Should Be Reduced

    BOSTON — Former New England Compounding Center (NECC) founder Barry J. Cadden has asked a Massachusetts federal court to reduce his sentence of 174 months for his role in a fungal meningitis outbreak pursuant to a recent amendment to the U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines.

  • July 12, 2024

    Federal Judge Refuses To Dismiss Coverage Dispute Over False Advertising Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied a professional liability insurer’s motion to dismiss insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying putative class action alleging that they falsely advertised a penis enlargement device, finding that the court is unable to determine as a matter of law that the insureds’ alleged statements and omissions fail to arise out of work performed by the insureds that involves “specialized training, knowledge and skill in the pursuit of urology, including surgery.”

  • July 12, 2024

    Acetaminophen Autism/ADHD MDL Judge Rejects Admissibility Of New Causation Expert

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has granted a motion to exclude testimony from an expert opining that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); the expert was retained after the judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation in December found that previously named experts were inadmissible.

  • July 11, 2024

    Rite Aid Agrees To Settle FCA And CSA Claims Stemming From Opioid Prescriptions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice on July 10 reached an agreement with Rite Aid Corp. and 10 subsidiaries and affiliates to settle violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and Controlled Substances Act (CSA), with the pharmacy chain paying $7.5 million and granting the government an unsubordinated, general unsecured claim of $401.8 million in Rite Aid’s bankruptcy case that is pending in the District of New Jersey.

  • July 11, 2024

    Taxotere Eye Injury MDL Judge Denies Accord’s Motion To Dismiss For Untimely Service

    NEW ORLEANS — The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation for cases alleging that a chemotherapy drug caused eye injuries denied a motion filed by a drug manufacturer to dismiss a complaint that was included in the bellwether pool for untimely service of process.

  • July 11, 2024

    MDL Sought For Cases Alleging Injuries Stemming From Toxic Embryo Solution

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Plaintiffs who sued a manufacturer of a solution used during fertility-related treatments that they claim was toxic and destroyed their developing embryos have asked the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize the cases for pretrial purposes.

  • July 09, 2024

    Hernia Mesh MDL Judge Orders Stay Of All Cases Pending Possible Settlement

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the Davol hernia mesh multidistrict litigation issued a limited stay at the request of C.R. Bard Inc. and Davol Inc. and the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) as they work toward a settlement agreement.

  • July 09, 2024

    Purdue Pharma’s Unsecured Creditors Ask For Permission To Sue Sackler Family

    NEW YORK — The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors on July 8 asked the New York federal bankruptcy judge overseeing Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy case to grant it sole derivative standing so it can sue Purdue Pharma’s owners — members of the Sackler family and their trusts and affiliates — after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in finding that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code allows a liability release for members of the family in a multibillion-dollar opioid bankruptcy settlement reached by Purdue Pharma.

  • July 09, 2024

    Medical Journal Finds Possible Link Between GLP-1 Drugs, Blindness

    BOSTON — A recent study published in the JAMA Ophthalmology found a potential link between semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA), and an increased risk of a significant cause of blindness among adults.