Mealey's Drugs & Devices : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Drugs & Devices

March 24, 2025
Judge: Medical Director Not Manufacturer, Seller Under Michigan Statutes

FLINT, Mich. — An employee who approved donor tissue or participated in quality control of that tissue is not a manufacturer or seller under Michigan’s product liability statutes, a Michigan federal judge said March 21, granting a partial motion to dismiss.
March 24, 2025
11th Circuit Dismisses Complaint Accusing Depo-Provera MDL Judge Of Misconduct

ATLANTA — The chief judge of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that the “voluntary corrective actions” by the judge overseeing the Depo-Provera multidistrict litigation who faced a complaint that her encouragement of women to apply for leadership positions in the MDL constituted impermissible bias and judicial misconduct “warrant the conclusion of this proceeding.”
March 24, 2025
Washington Law Does Not Shield Walgreens From OTC Claims, State High Court Says

SEATTLE — A drug manufacturer labeling an over-the-counter cough medicine as nondrowsy does not fall within the statutory safe harbor of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA), the state Supreme Court said in answering a certified question from a district court.
March 20, 2025
Opioid MDL Judge Denies Albertsons’ Motion For Interlocutory Appeal

CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation on March 19 denied pharmacy defendant Albertsons’ motion for an interlocutory appeal of his ruling that denied its motion for summary judgment, “concluding that the motion is better presented to the transferor court on remand.”
March 20, 2025
Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
March 20, 2025
Judge: Woman’s Taxotere Hair Loss Case Barred By N.C.’s Statute Of Limitations

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina found that a woman’s case that was remanded from the Taxotere hair loss multidistrict litigation was not filed within the state’s three-year statute of limitations for product liability claims and granted a manufacturer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
March 19, 2025
Purdue Pharma Files Amended Plan Of Reorganization In New York Bankruptcy Court

NEW YORK — Purdue Pharma L.P. filed its 13th amended Chapter 11 plan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on March 18 following a recent agreement between the Sackler family and Purdue to contribute $7.4 billion to settle claims that they contributed to creating the opioid crisis.
March 19, 2025
GLP-1 MDL Plaintiffs Say Drug Makers’ Motion To Dismiss Must Be Denied

PHILADELPHIA — Plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation involving diabetes and diet drugs that consumers allege caused gastrointestinal and other injuries urged a Pennsylvania federal judge on March 18 to deny the drug manufacturers’ motion to dismiss certain claims from a master long-form complaint.
March 19, 2025
Fen-Phen Drug Manufacturers Lose Bid To Toss Injury Case In Calif. Federal Court

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint of a woman who says she was injured after ingesting fen-phen diet drugs and found that a case cited by the drug manufacturer defendants actually “reinforces the court’s conclusion that plaintiffs’ claims are adequately pled.”
March 19, 2025
Judgment Entered In Insurers’ Favor In Coverage Dispute Prompted By Opioid Epidemic

TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida on March 18 entered judgment in favor of insurers in an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying actions arising from the opioid epidemic, finding that the insurers have no duty to defend or indemnify because the opioid lawsuits fail to allege damages “for bodily injury” or “because of bodily injury.”
March 18, 2025
Up To 100 Suboxone Plaintiffs Can File Suit In Single Complaint, MDL Judge Says

CLEVELAND — The judge overseeing the Suboxone film multidistrict litigation ruled in a March 17 case management order that lawsuits with up to 100 plaintiffs can be filed in a single complaint with one filing fee for the lead plaintiff.
March 18, 2025
Plaintiffs Leadership Named For Depo-Provera MDL

PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Florida federal judge overseeing the Depo-Provera multidistrict litigation, a group of cases alleging that a long-lasting injectable contraceptive caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, has appointed Christopher Seeger of Seeger Weiss LLP as plaintiffs’ lead counsel.
March 18, 2025
Mass. Federal Judge Allows Design Defect Claims To Move Forward In BioZorb Cases

BOSTON — A group of cases alleging that an implanted radiographic marker used to mark soft tissue sites during cancer treatment was defective and caused injuries survived a motion to dismiss filed by the device manufacturer, which argued that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim for defective design.
March 17, 2025
Fosamax Manufacturer Urges High Court Review Of ‘Outlier’ Preemption Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — High court review is needed again in the long-running Fosamax femur fracture multidistrict litigation, the drug manufacturer says in a petition for certiorari, arguing that the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “defied” a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, “gutting drug preemption and rendering itself an outlier among the Circuits” when it found that state law claims are not preempted and reversed the decision that awarded the drug manufacturer summary judgment in 1,046 cases.
March 17, 2025
Boston Appeals Dismissal Of Opioid Suit Against PBMs; PBM Appeals Counsel Ruling

BOSTON — Boston has filed notice that it is appealing to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an order dismissing its case against two pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in which a Massachusetts federal judge found that the city’s claims against the PBMs for their role in contributing to the opioid epidemic are time-barred and that the city lacks standing; separately, one of the PMBs on March 14 filed a notice of cross-appeal, saying the judge erred in refusing to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing Boston and others in the suit.
March 14, 2025
Final Approval Hearing Set For $73M Settlement For EpiPen Antitrust Claims

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A final approval hearing for a $73 million settlement reached with Mylan NV, Mylan Specialty LP and Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (collectively, Mylan) to end claims that they conspired with others in an attempt to delay entry of generic competitors for the EpiPen epinephrine autoinjector (EAI) into the market is scheduled for May 9 in a Kansas federal court, the judge overseeing the case announced.
March 14, 2025
Case Alleging Injury From Defective Stapler Device Survives Motion To Dismiss

JACKSON, Miss. — A lawsuit in a Mississippi federal court alleging that a woman was injured by a defective surgical stapler will continue after a federal judge on March 13 found that the couple adequately pleaded their claims under the Mississippi Products Liability Act (MPLA).
March 14, 2025
Couple Files Amended Complaint, Says Drug Maker Hid Risk Of Stroke, Injuries

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on March 13 denied as moot a motion filed by Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (GBT) and Pfizer Inc. to dismiss a complaint alleging that Oxbryta (voxelotor), a prescription medication used for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD), caused a man to experience an increased rate of vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) and to suffer a stroke after the couple filed an amended complaint.
March 13, 2025
Indiana Appeals Court Affirms Defective Hip Case Time-Barred By Statute Of Repose

INDIANAPOLIS — The latent disease exception to the Indiana Products Liability Act’s (IPLA) statute of repose does not apply to a case alleging that a defective metal-on-metal hip device caused injuries, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled, affirming that a trial court properly granted summary judgment for the manufacturer and that the only exceptions to the law are for asbestos-related claims.
March 13, 2025
FTC, Nasal Spray Maker Stipulate To Dismissal In COVID Prevention Claims Case

SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Trade Commission and a company that claims to make a nasal spray that provides protection against and treatment for COVID-19 filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice that states that each party is responsible for its own costs and that no party is responsible to any other party for fines, cost or penalties arising from the case.
March 12, 2025
‘Paucity Of Evidence’ Linking Disorders To Gardasil Vaccine Bars Preemption Defense

STATESVILLE, N.C. — The manufacturer of the Gardasil vaccine could not unilaterally add warnings to the vaccine’s label, the North Carolina federal judge overseeing the Gardasil multidistrict litigation ruled, finding that the bellwether plaintiffs’ sole remaining claim is preempted by federal law.
March 12, 2025
Pharmaceutical Company To Settle Claims In National Opiate MDL; Terms Undisclosed

CLEVELAND — Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) Inc. and Nesher Pharmaceuticals (USA) LLC (collectively, Zydus) agreed to settle claims against them in the nationwide opioid multidistrict litigation brought by various states, subdivisions and Native American tribes, according to two orders to establish confidential qualified settlement funds signed by the Ohio federal judge overseeing the MDL on March 11.
March 12, 2025
GLP-1 Compounding Pharmacies Appeal Ruling That Denied Stay In Suit Against FDA

FORT WORTH, Texas — Companies representing the interests of drug compounders appealed to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Texas federal judge’s ruling that denied a preliminary injunction and stay on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to remove an FDA-approved drug for diabetes and weight loss from the agency’s drug shortage list.
March 11, 2025
Magellan CEO Pleads Guilty In Connection To Malfunctioning Blood Lead Test Kits

BOSTON — The former chief executive officer of Massachusetts medical device company Magellan Diagnostics Inc. on March 10 pleaded guilty in a Massachusetts federal court to one count of introducing misbranded medical devices into interstate commerce following two other plea deals reached with other Magellan executives who were accused of concealing that blood lead testing devices malfunctioned and produced inaccurately low lead levels.
March 11, 2025
Depo-Provera MDL Judge Schedules Hearings To Select Counsel For Leadership Roles

PENSACOLA, Fla. — The 75 attorneys seeking a leadership position in the multidistrict litigation for cases alleging that a long-lasting injectable contraceptive caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, should be prepared to offer oral arguments at a Florida federal court on March 13 and 14, the federal judge overseeing the MDL said in a pretrial order.