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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • January 29, 2026

    Judge Approves $7.5 Million Class Settlement For Case Involving Premature Birth Drug

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted final approval of a $7.5 million class action settlement to end claims that a drug manufacturer knew that its premature birth prevention drug was ineffective and awarded attorney fees, costs and service fee awards for the named plaintiffs.

  • January 28, 2026

    Government Asks Court To Pause Mifepristone Case Pending Its Review Of FDA’s Rules

    LAFAYETTE, La. — The government on Jan. 27 asked a Louisiana federal court to stay all proceedings 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, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, while it conducts a review of the agency’s previous rulings.

  • January 28, 2026

    Arizona Federal Judge Finds Certain Claims For Defective Screws Are Preempted

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge found that the negligence claims by a woman who alleges that she was injured by defective pedicle screws are preempted by federal law but ruled that the design defect claims can move forward.

  • January 28, 2026

    Doctors Groups Seek To Block Changes To CDC Vaccine Recommendations

    BOSTON — On the heels of a request to amend their complaint a fourth time in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Jan. 5 reduction of its recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11, physicians’ professional groups and others moved for a preliminary injunction to block the CDC from implementing or enforcing those changes, as well as its earlier announced changes to COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women, the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns and other changes to established vaccine recommendations.

  • January 27, 2026

    Wash. Federal Judge Moves False Advertising Suit Against Semaglutide Seller Forward

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on Jan. 26 ruled that a false advertising and unfair competition case filed by the maker of semaglutide drugs can move forward, finding that the complaint established standing and sufficiently alleges the elements of claims against the compounded drug seller.

  • January 22, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • January 22, 2026

    Taxotere Eye Injury MDL Judge: Claims Against Generic Drug Makers Are Preempted

    NEW ORLEANS — Generic manufacturers of a chemotherapy drug that allegedly caused eye injuries could not unilaterally change their labels because they lacked any “newly acquired information” about the danger of the drugs, making claims against them preempted by federal law, the Louisiana federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation ruled.

  • January 22, 2026

    Depo-Provera MDL Judge Tells Plaintiffs’ Leadership To Reapply For Posts

    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, ordered counsel who have been appointed to leadership positions to reapply by Feb. 13 if they are interested in continuing in that role.

  • January 22, 2026

    Judge: Learned Intermediary Doctrine Bars Claims Against IVC Distributor

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The marketer and distributor of an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter had no duty to warn a man that the device should not be used for an extended period of time, an Alabama federal judge ruled in partially granting a motion to dismiss.

  • January 22, 2026

    Federal Judge Agrees To Remand CoolSculpting Case, Allow Defendants To Be Added

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a man’s motion for joinder and remand in a case alleging that he was severely burned and scarred as a result of a CoolSculpting treatment, rejecting arguments from the manufacturers that the man failed to amend his complaint to add the treating doctor and facility.

  • January 22, 2026

    Metal-On-Metal Hip Implant Case Dismissed For Lack Of Evidence Of Defect

    SHREVEPORT, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted a hip implant manufacturer summary judgment, finding that a woman who alleges that she was injured by a defect in the device failed to provide sufficient evidence to support her claims.

  • January 21, 2026

    PBMs Move To Dismiss Complaint That They Helped Create Opioid Crisis In Philadelphia

    PHILADELPHIA — Three of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) facing allegations that they ignored data and allowed unrestricted access to opioids that caused devastation throughout the country and in the city of Philadelphia asked a Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss a complaint filed against them, arguing that the claims are time-barred and have no merit.

  • January 20, 2026

    Spinal Implant Maker Says Federal Law Preempts Claims That Defect Led To Injury

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The manufacturer of a spinal implant device says claims that a man was rendered quadriplegic after sustaining a spinal cord injury when the device allegedly failed are preempted by federal law and should be dismissed, according to a motion filed in the New Castle County, Del., Superior Court.

  • January 16, 2026

    California Won’t Extradite Abortion Doctor To Louisiana To Face Criminal Charges

    The governor of California rejected a request to extradite a California doctor who has been indicted in Louisiana for violating state laws by mailing abortion-inducing drugs into the state.

  • January 15, 2026

    GLP-1 Compounding Pharmacy Says Lilly, Novo Nordisk Violated Antitrust Laws

    SAN ANTONIO — Manufacturers of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated antitrust laws by unlawfully monopolizing the market and by entering into unlawful exclusive agreements with telehealth providers, a compounding pharmacy alleges in a complaint filed Jan. 14 in a Texas federal court.

  • January 15, 2026

    Bard Port Catheter MDL Limits Causation Testimony From Manufacturers’ Expert

    PHOENIX — The Arizona federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter (IPC) device limited testimony from an expert retained by the manufacturers of the device, finding that his opinions relating to causation are not based on sufficient facts or a reliable methodology.

  • January 13, 2026

    Paragard MDL Judge Denies Interlocutory Appeal Motion In Preemption Ruling

    ATLANTA — The Georgia federal judge overseeing the Paragard intrauterine device (IUD) multidistrict litigation on Jan. 12 denied a motion by the device manufacturer to certify an order for interlocutory appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a ruling that found that information can retroactively apply as newly acquired information under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s changes-being-effected (CBE) regulation.

  • January 13, 2026

    High Court Won’t Hear Case Debating Stay For Remanded California Opioid Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in finding that a remand order in an opioid public nuisance case filed by California is not subject to an automatic stay under the federal officer removal statute.

  • January 12, 2026

    U.S. Supreme Court Asks Solicitor General To Weigh In On Compounding Drug Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 asked the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General to state the government’s position on a petition for a writ of certiorari that the court is considering on whether state unfair competition laws are preempted by federal law in cases accusing compounding pharmacies of marketing drugs without premarket approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • January 09, 2026

    Man Seeking To Add COVID Vaccine To Vaccine Injury Table Appeals Standing Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man who sought an order forcing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) so he could be compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) filed a notice of appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 8 after a District of Columbia federal judge granted the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing, having found that an act of Congress was a necessary step to adding a vaccine to the VIT.

  • January 08, 2026

    Firms Seek To Consolidate Glucose Monitoring Device Cases, Be Named Lead Counsel

    SAN DIEGO — Counsel who say they represent 21 out of the 25 plaintiffs named across four cases, who allege that Dexcom Inc. misled users of its glucose monitoring systems by representing the device to be safe and accurate while it knew that the devices were defective and prone to dangerous alert failures, asked a California federal court to consolidate the cases and name the two firms as interim co-lead counsel.

  • January 08, 2026

    Estate Of Woman Who Died Of Breast Cancer Sues Makers Of Risperdal In Federal Court

    SAN FRANCISCO — The estate of a woman who died of breast cancer filed a wrongful death suit in a California federal court against the manufacturers of Risperdal and its generic forms, alleging that the companies knew that the use of its prescription medications increased the risk of cancer and failed to warn patients or their health care providers.

  • January 08, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • January 07, 2026

    Teva Partially Granted Summary Judgment In Paragard Bellwether Case

    ATLANTA — The Georgia federal judge overseeing the Paragard intrauterine device (IUD) multidistrict litigation agreed to trim some claims against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. asserted by a bellwether plaintiff, finding that the woman failed to adequately plead her fraud, breach-of-warranty and gross negligence claims.

  • January 07, 2026

    Amicus Filers Support Drugmakers’ Petition For Review Of Class Certification Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pair of organizations representing business and biopharmaceutical research interests urged the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by two drug makers to resolve “an important, recurring question concerning courts’ authority to deviate from” the requirements under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) in a putative class action.