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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • 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.

  • February 03, 2026

    Third-Party Payer Class Tells High Court That Review Not Needed In Certification Spat

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that found no error in the certification of a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos, despite the court recognizing that there is no way to calculate the number of class members that were not harmed, does not warrant review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund argues in an opposition filed Feb. 2.

  • February 03, 2026

    Florida Woman Seeks To Compel HHS Secretary To Add COVID Vaccine To Injury Table

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — A woman injured by the COVID-19 vaccine sued U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Feb. 2 seeking to compel him to add the vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) as provided by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act so that she could be compensated under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

  • February 03, 2026

    Lawyer: Courts Haven’t Addressed ‘Core Issues’ In Case Disputing Attorney Fees

    NEWARK, N.J. — The lawyer representing a woman who filed a putative class action over the amount of attorney fees awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation on Jan. 30 urged a New Jersey federal judge to reject a request to file a motion to dismiss because the case raises legal issues that have not been previously addressed.

  • February 02, 2026

    Parties Debate State Of Public Nuisance Opioid Case After Remand By 4th Circuit

    HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Three national drug distributors on Jan. 30 told a West Virigina federal court that a decision by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that under West Virginia law, the over-distribution of opioids can constitute a public nuisance, does not disturb any of the lower court’s “existing factual findings, second-guess any of its credibility determinations, or address its separate expert exclusion ruling.”

  • February 02, 2026

    Agency Proposes Rule That Would Require PBMs To Make Some Fee Disclosures

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fiduciaries of self-insured group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act would receive compensation information from pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) “services and affiliated providers of brokerage and consulting services” under a proposed rule that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has unveiled.

  • January 30, 2026

    Lawyer Says Case Disputing Attorney Fees In Benicar MDL Should Be Dismissed

    NEWARK, N.J. — A putative class action over the amount of attorney fees awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation raises the same legal theories that have twice been rejected by a New Jersey federal judge and should be dismissed with prejudice, a lawyer tells a New Jersey federal court, asking for permission to file a motion to dismiss.

  • January 30, 2026

    6th Circuit: PBMs Properly Removed Case Under Federal Officer Removal Statute

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower court and found that two pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accused by Ohio of conspiring to drive up prices of prescription drugs properly removed the case to federal court under the federal officer removal statute.

  • January 30, 2026

    Testing Companies Dismissed In Toxic Embryo Solution Case In Connecticut

    WATERBURY, Conn. — A company under contract with a manufacturer of a solution used during fertility-related treatments that women allege was toxic and destroyed developing embryos “has not had sufficient contacts with Connecticut” for a state court to exercise personal jurisdiction, a judge ruled, dismissing an apportionment complaint filed against two companies the manufacturer alleged are liable for failure to adequately test the solution.

  • 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.