Mealey's Drugs & Devices
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September 05, 2024
Judge In Bair Hugger MDL Agrees To Dismiss Multiple Cases That Violated Pretrial Order
MINNEAPOLIS — The judge overseeing the Bair Hugger multidistrict litigation granted in large part a motion to dismiss 46 cases after finding that the plaintiffs failed to comply with a pretrial order requiring that the court be alerted when a plaintiff dies.
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September 05, 2024
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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September 05, 2024
Teva USA Objects To Motion To Add Teva Ltd. To Paragard IUD MDL
ATLANTA — Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. urged the court overseeing the Paragard IUD (intrauterine device) multidistrict litigation to reject a motion filed by the plaintiffs for leave to amend the master complaint to add Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. as a defendant.
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September 04, 2024
Woman Says Defective Potassium Pill Caused Mother’s Fatal Cardiac Arrest
NEWARK, N.J. — A woman who alleges that her mother died after ingesting defective potassium chloride pills manufactured by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc. filed suit in a New Jersey federal court, seeking to represent a class of consumers whose damages she says total more than $50 million.
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September 04, 2024
Philips Argues For Discovery Consolidation In Related CPAP MDLs
PITTSBURGH — Koninklijke Philips N.V., Philips North America LLC and Philips RS North America LLC (collectively, Philips) asked the judge overseeing two related multidistrict litigations involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million Philips continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices and respirators to rule that documents produced in one MDL can be used in the other.
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September 03, 2024
Children Who Were Born Addicted To Opioids Sue In McKinsey MDL
SAN FRANCISCO — Three children who were born addicted to opioids filed a complaint on Aug. 30 in the McKinsey & Co. opioid promotion multidistrict litigation alleging that the consulting firm’s actions helped fuel an epidemic in Tennessee and across the country, leading to their mother becoming addicted to prescription opioids and drugs she purchased on the street.
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September 03, 2024
Drugmakers To Pay $300M To Settle Third-Party Payers’ Claims In Opioid MDL
CLEVELAND — Third-party payers (TPP) in the opioid multidistrict litigation moved on Aug. 30 for preliminary approval of a $300 million settlement reached with three drug manufacturers to end claims that the opioid industry’s practices caused them to pay more for prescription opioids instead of safer, less addictive alternatives and for the cost of funding opioid addiction-related treatments.
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September 03, 2024
NECC Pharmacist Pleads No Contest In Michigan Involuntary Manslaughter Case
HOWELL, Mich. — Former New England Compounding Center (NECC) chief pharmacist Glenn A. Chin pleaded no contest in a Michigan state court to 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak traced to a contaminated drug compounded by the company.
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August 30, 2024
Texas Appeals Court Affirms $135K For Attorney Fees In Hernia Mesh Arbitration
EASTLAND, Texas — A Texas appeals court affirmed $135,000 arbitrator’s final award in a decades-old dispute over the distribution of attorney fees in a hernia repair Kugel Mesh case, rejecting a law firm’s request for a $1 million award.
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August 30, 2024
3 Women To Appeal Dismissal Of Gardasil Cases Tossed On Jurisdictional Grounds
STATESVILLE, N.C. — Three women whose cases were dismissed in the Gardasil multidistrict litigation for failing to timely file a required petition in the Vaccine Court told the North Carolina federal court overseeing the MDL that they will appeal the decision to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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August 29, 2024
Federal Judge: Rapid Release Tylenol Class Action Fails Under Preemption Grounds
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. improperly advertised that its Tylenol Rapid Release Gelcaps worked faster than the cheaper tablet alternatives after finding that a woman’s claims are preempted by federal law.
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August 29, 2024
Magistrate: Man Failed To Fix Allegations That Defective Device Caused Injuries
NEW YORK — A magistrate judge in New York recommended that a motion to file an amended complaint be denied after finding that a man failed “to fix the deficiencies in his claims” that a defective medical device caused his injuries.
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August 28, 2024
Federal Judge Partially OKs Expert Exclusion Case Remanded From Pelvic Mesh MDL
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on Aug. 27 partially granted a motion to exclude expert testimony in a long-running case against a pelvic mesh manufacturer after previously ruling that the expert was properly designated and granting the manufacturer permission to move to exclude his general causation opinions under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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August 28, 2024
Dispute Over FCA Public Disclosure Bar Distributed For Conference In Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 28 distributed for conference a petition for certiorari filed by pharmaceutical companies seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the public disclosure bar was not triggered in a case where it reversed a district court’s dismissal of a suit accusing the companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices.
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August 28, 2024
Couple Sues Sterile Oil Manufacturer For Loss Of Embryos During IVF Procedure
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina couple sued a manufacturer of sterile mineral oil that they say was toxic and led to the destruction of their embryos, asserting claims for breach of contract, negligence and wrongful death in a North Carolina federal court.
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August 27, 2024
CPAP Plaintiffs’ Counsel Ask For $5M In Fees, Costs In Medical Monitoring Settlement
PITTSBURGH — Counsel representing plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices on Aug. 26 filed a motion requesting $5 million for attorney fees, costs and service awards as part of a $25 million settlement to resolve medical monitoring claims.
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August 26, 2024
Delaware Judge Rules For Insurers In Coverage Dispute Over 218 Opioid Suits
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge denied CVS Health Corp.’s motion for partial summary judgment and granted its insurers’ motion for partial summary judgment in their lawsuit disputing coverage for underlying opioid litigation, finding that CVS has failed to demonstrate any genuine issue of material fact that the underlying actions do not assert damages because of “bodily injury or property damage.”
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August 22, 2024
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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August 22, 2024
Acetaminophen Autism/ADHD Judge Says Causation Not Proven, Grants Summary Judgment
NEW YORK — The New York federal judge overseeing the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, who recently found an expert retained by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes ADHD to be inadmissible, awarded summary judgment to the defendants after rejecting the plaintiffs’ argument that statements made by the defendants’ expert could use to prove causation.
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August 22, 2024
Suboxone MDL Judge Names Counsel To Leadership Committee
CLEVELAND — The judge overseeing the Suboxone film multidistrict litigation appointed attorneys to the leadership development committee, which he said is “intended to provide mentorship to attorneys committed to long-term involvement in mass-tort MDL practice with the goal of developing future MDL leaders.”
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August 22, 2024
Novo Nordisk Survives Motion To Dismiss Filed By Competitor In Semaglutide Case
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Novo Nordisk Inc., a drug manufacturer that says it’s the only company with approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce medicine containing the molecule semaglutide, survived a motion to dismiss filed by a pharmacy that it sued for selling products that contain semaglutide, but the Tennessee federal judge granted permission for the pharmacy to raise its arguments again.
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August 21, 2024
JPMDL To Hear Arguments On Whether Defective Port Cases Should Be Consolidated
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Counsel for a medical device maker and for users who say that their chemotherapy port was defective and caused a multitude of injuries will appear before the U.S.. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Sept. 26 to argue whether centralization of the cases is appropriate.
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August 21, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Vaccine Case On Causation Grounds
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 20 affirmed a lower court’s finding that parents failed to prove that their child’s injury was caused by a flu vaccine in a National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act case.
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August 20, 2024
JPMDL To Mull Consolidating Cases Stemming From Alleged Toxic Embryo Solution
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will hear oral arguments in September on a motion to centralize cases filed by couples who sued a manufacturer of a solution used during fertility-related treatments that they claim was toxic and destroyed their developing embryos.
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August 20, 2024
2nd Circuit Agrees Claims On Alleged Mislabeled Supplement Are Preempted
NEW YORK — A woman’s claims that a dietary supplement was mislabeled because it contained a different formulation of the main ingredient than the one displayed on the side are preempted by federal law, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, affirming a district court’s award of summary judgment.