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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • February 19, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • February 19, 2026

    Drugmakers: High Court Must Hear Class Certification Case To Resolve Circuit Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two drug companies on Feb. 18 told the U.S. Supreme Court that opposition to their petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund is “revisionist history in the extreme” and that the court should hear the case to resolve whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in certifying a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos.

  • February 19, 2026

    Oral Arguments Date Set In Cases Over FDA’s Removal Of GLP-1 Drugs From Shortage List

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for March 30 in related disputes on whether a lower court erred in granting summary judgment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after it was sued over the removal of tirzepatide and semaglutide, FDA-approved drugs for diabetes and weight loss, from the agency’s drug shortage list.

  • February 19, 2026

    Judge Says Case Alleging Misrepresentations About Genetic Testing Can Move Forward

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge largely denied a motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that a company’s representations about its preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) are false and misleading.

  • February 18, 2026

    Suit To Block CDC Vaccine Actions Has Recommendation Reductions Added To Complaint

    BOSTON — Pursuant to leave granted by a Massachusetts federal judge, physicians’ professional groups and others seeking to challenge changes made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its vaccine recommendations and other agency actions on Feb. 17 filed a fourth amended complaint, adding to the agency actions challenged in previous complaints the recent reduction of the CDC’s recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11 in alignment with the recommended vaccine schedule of Denmark.

  • February 18, 2026

    Philips, Estate Reach Settlement In Case Alleging CPAP Machine Caused House Fire

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The estate of a woman and the manufacturer of a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea device have reached a settlement, according to a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice filed in a North Carolina federal court; the woman’s home burned down after a CPAP device allegedly caught fire.

  • February 18, 2026

    Amici Tell Louisiana Federal Court To Pause Remote Dispensing Of Mifepristone

    LAFAYETTE, La. — Amicus curiae briefs were filed in support of Louisiana and a woman who alleges that she was forced to take mifepristone that was ordered by a boyfriend and sent by mail, asking the Louisiana federal court to grant their motion for preliminary injunction in a case brought by the state that challenges the validity of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.

  • February 18, 2026

    Suboxone MDL Judge Selects 100 Plaintiffs For Coordinated Discovery

    CLEVELAND — The judge overseeing the Suboxone film multidistrict litigation has randomly selected 100 plaintiffs to undergo coordinated core discovery proceedings pursuant to a previous case management order.

  • February 17, 2026

    Medtronic Moves To Dismiss Defective Pacemaker Case, Says Claims Are Preempted

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A woman’s suit asserting that a defective pacemaker had to be removed and caused her injuries is preempted by federal law and the claims are inadequately pleaded, the manufacturer argues in a Feb. 13 motion to dismiss filed in a Connecticut federal court.

  • February 17, 2026

    Woman’s Family Agrees To Dismiss Novartis From Suit Involving Medical Tissue

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge in a Feb. 16 paperless order approved a joint stipulation to dismiss with prejudice a pharmaceutical company that was sued by the family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose medical tissue was taken without her consent in 1951 to create the first immortalized human cell line that has been used in medical developments from the polio vaccine to in vitro fertilization.

  • February 17, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Suit Against GLP-1 Telehealth Company For Lack Of Standing

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge found that Eli Lilly & Co. does not have standing under the Lanham Act to sue a telehealth company over its sale of compounded tirzepatide products, granting a motion to dismiss with prejudice and without leave to amend.

  • February 13, 2026

    Ga. Appeals Court Dismisses Opioid Distributor In Drug Dealer Liability Act Case

    ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court applied the incorrect statute of limitations to deny a motion to dismiss filed by a distributor of opioids because a family’s claims under the Drug Dealer Liability Act (DDLA) stem from personal injuries, the Georgia Court of Appeals held Feb. 12 in reversing the decision.

  • February 13, 2026

    CooperSurgical Loses Bid To Hold Testing Company Responsible For Toxic Solution

    EUGENE, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge dismissed a third-party complaint filed against companies contracted to test a solution used during fertility-related treatments that was allegedly toxic and destroyed developing embryos after finding that the court lacks jurisdiction.

  • February 13, 2026

    JPMDL Agrees To Centralize Faulty Toe Joint Implant Cases In Arkansas Federal Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) agreed to centralize cases alleging that a synthetic cartilage implant device used to treat arthritis in a toe joint was defective in an Arkansas federal court.

  • February 12, 2026

    Judge Partly Rules In Favor Of Insurers In Trustee’s Suit Over Opioid Litigation

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted in part and denied in part insurers’ motions for summary judgment on the bellwether issues of claims-made requirement, batching and extended reporting; notice; occurrence requirement and fortuity-based exclusions; and prior knowledge in an opioid litigation coverage dispute brought by the trustee of a general unsecured creditors’ trust formed after the pharmaceutical company insured filed for bankruptcy, holding that all personal injury (PI) and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) claims first made after the 2016-17 policy period are not covered under the 2016-17 products insurance policies.

  • February 12, 2026

    Women Ask High Court To Reconsider Ruling That Found Gardasil Claims Were Untimely

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three women whose claims against the manufacturer of the Gardasil vaccine were found to be untimely filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to rule that the addition of the Gardasil vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table was unconstitutional and that the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in finding that the women must first file in the Vaccine Act compensation program before suing in a district court.

  • February 11, 2026

    Oral Arguments Date Set In Case Over FDA’s Removal Of Tirzepatide From Shortage List

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for March 30 in a dispute on whether a lower court erred in granting summary judgment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after it was sued over the removal of tirzepatide, an FDA-approved drug for diabetes and weight loss, from the agency’s drug shortage list.

  • February 10, 2026

    5th Circuit Upholds Louisiana Law Expanding Section 340B Drug-Pricing Program

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 9 affirmed a lower court’s decision that found that a Louisiana law governing the distribution to contract pharmacies of medication covered under the Section 340B drug price program of the Public Health Service Act is not preempted by federal law and is not unconstitutional.

  • February 10, 2026

    Novo Nordisk Sues Hims For Patent Infringement Over Compounded Semaglutide Sales

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The manufacturer of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus on Feb. 9 sued an online health care provider in Delaware federal court for patent infringement stemming from its marketing and sale of compounded semaglutide for weight loss.

  • February 05, 2026

    Judge Denies Motion To Dismiss False Advertising Case Against Compound Drug Maker

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge ruled that a complaint filed against a company that purports to sell compounded semaglutide for weight loss can continue after finding that the maker of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed injury and that its claims are not preempted.

  • February 05, 2026

    Illinois Federal Judge Finds Claims Against Spinal Implant Maker Preempted

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge agreed to dismiss claims against the makers of a spinal implant after finding that the claims asserted against them in a medical malpractice suit are preempted by federal law.

  • February 05, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • February 05, 2026

    Makers Of Mifepristone Move To Intervene In Case In Louisiana Federal Court

    LAFAYETTE, La. — Danco Laboratories LLC, the maker of Mifeprex brand of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, and GenBioPro Inc., the maker of generic mifepristone, moved separately in a Louisiana federal court to intervene in a case brought by the state that challenges the validity of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, arguing that the federal government cannot adequately represent their interests.

  • February 05, 2026

    Teva Secures Defense Win In 1st Paragard MDL Bellwether Trial

    ATLANTA — A federal jury in Georgia returned a defense verdict in the first bellwether case for the Paragard intrauterine device (IUD) multidistrict litigation, rejecting a woman’s claim that Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. failed to warn her that the device is prone to break during removal.

  • February 04, 2026

    Drugmakers Argue Claims In Depo-Provera MDL Are Preempted By Federal Law

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — The manufacturers of a long-lasting injectable contraceptive that allegedly caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, argue in a summary judgment brief that they could not have changed the drug’s warning labels without approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rendering claims against them preempted by federal law.