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

Mealey's Drugs & Devices

November 08, 2024
Consumers, Target Agree To End Case Over Misleading ‘Non-Drowsy’ Medicine Label

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge dismissed claims by consumers who allege that Target Corp. misled its customers by labeling its cold medicine as “non-drowsy” after the parties filed a joint stipulation agreeing to settle the case.
November 07, 2024
Taxotere MDL Judge Dismisses Cases Without Substitute For Deceased Plaintiff

NEW ORLEANS — The federal judge overseeing the Taxotere hair loss multidistrict litigation granted a series of motions to dismiss filed by the manufacturer of the drug, which argued that in each case the plaintiff had died and not been replaced (In Re: Taxotere [Docetaxel].
November 06, 2024
Judge Adopts Recommendation To Dismiss Defective Medical Device Case

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge overruled objections to a magistrate judge’s second report and recommendation (R&R) that a man’s case alleging that he was injured by a defective medical device be dismissed.
November 05, 2024
Paragard MDL Judge Sets Trial Dates For 1st 2 Bellwether Cases

ATLANTA —The judge overseeing the Paragard intrauterine device (IUD) multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has scheduled dates for the first two bellwether trials.
November 05, 2024
Kroger To Pay $1.37 Billion To States For Its Role In Opioid Epidemic

CINCINNATI — Kroger Co. and a bipartisan group of attorneys general on Nov. 4 finalized a $1.37 billion settlement with the supermarket chain to settle claims that the company failed to monitor suspicious opioid orders and contributed to the opioid addiction epidemic, according to a settlement agreement.
November 05, 2024
9th Circuit: Lower Court Properly Tossed Defective Device Case As Time-Barred

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a lower court did not err in finding that a man’s product liability claims over a defective medical device were time-barred by California’s two-year statute of limitations and there was no error in the court dismissing the action without leave to amend.
November 04, 2024
Louisiana Sued Over Law Classifying Abortion Drugs As Controlled Substances

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana law that classifies misoprostol and mifepristone — two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy — as controlled dangerous substances is unconstitutional because it “threatens access to lifesaving medications for certain patients, and improperly interferes with timely and appropriate access for others with a range of physical conditions,” a doula practice in the state and others alleges in a complaint filed in state court.
October 31, 2024
Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
October 31, 2024
New York Federal Judge Finds State Claims Preempted In OTC Cold Medicine Case

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge dismissed a streamlined complaint filed by consumers who allege that over-the-counter cough and cold medications containing the active ingredient phenylephrine (PE) are ineffective at relieving nasal congestion after finding that the claims are preempted by federal law.
October 31, 2024
Michigan Sues PBMs For Role In State’s Opioid Crisis

LANSING, Mich. — The attorney general for Michigan alleges that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) “had a central role in facilitating the oversupply of opioids through contact that has the intended purpose of ignoring necessary safeguards to increase the prescribing, dispensing and sales of prescription opioids” and sued two of the nation’s largest PBMs in a state court, asserting violations of the state’s public nuisance laws and other claims.
October 30, 2024
Judge: Motley Rice Can Represent Boston In Public Nuisance Suit Against OptumRX

BOSTON — Citing a decision by the judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation that rejected similar arguments, a Massachusetts federal judge denied a motion filed by a pharmacy benefit manager to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing Boston and others in a suit alleging public nuisance.
October 30, 2024
Hologic Announces Voluntary Recall Of Implantable BioZorb Marker Devices

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — Hologic Inc., facing litigation from cancer patients who allege that an implanted radiographic marker used to mark soft tissue sites during cancer treatment was defective and caused injuries, announced that it is voluntarily removing all lots of unused BioZorb Marker and BioZorb LP Marker.
October 30, 2024
Judge Bars Economics Expert In Avandia Third-Party Payer’s Bid For Class Action

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing the Avandia multidistrict litigation agreed with GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) that an economic expert retained by third-party payers who bought the diabetes pill and are seeking class certification cannot testify under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
October 29, 2024
Remand Denied In Defective Heart Device Case Removed To New York Federal Court

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied a motion to remand a wrongful death suit filed against the manufacturer of a heart a defibrillator device, finding that the manufacturer properly removed the case from a New York state court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction.
October 29, 2024
Tepezza MDL Judge Dismisses 1 Bellwether Case, Says It Will Not Be Replaced

CHICAGO — The Illinois federal judge overseeing the Tepezza hearing loss multidistrict litigation on Oct. 28 granted a motion to dismiss a woman’s complaint that was selected as an initial bellwether discovery case but refused to allow the drug manufacturer to choose a replacement case.
October 28, 2024
SoClean: Philips Shows No Economic Loss; CPAP Class Action Should Be Tossed

PITTSBURGH — SoClean Inc., a manufacturer of equipment that uses ozone to clean and disinfect continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices and respirators, moved to dismiss a putative class action filed by a manufacturer of recalled CPAP machines that reached a settlement in a related multidistrict litigation to resolve economic losses and argues that it should represent the MDL plaintiffs’ interests in its suit against SoClean.
October 28, 2024
MDL Judge Reaffirms Ruling To Hold Off Discovery Into GLP-1 Marketing Plans

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge newly appointed to oversee the multidistrict litigation involving diabetes and diet drugs that consumers allege cause gastrointestinal and other injuries declined to reconsider her case management order that barred the plaintiffs from pursuing discovery into the drug makers’ marketing campaigns.
October 28, 2024
6 Bellwether Cases Selected In Valsartan MDL

CAMDEN, N.J. — The special master presiding over the valsartan/losartan/irbesartan hypertension drugs multidistrict litigation pending in a New Jersey federal court announced that the first six bellwether cases have been selected.
October 28, 2024
6th Circuit Refuses To Order Opioid MDL Judge To Disqualify Motley Rice

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for a writ of mandamus ordering the Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation to disqualify Motley Rice and its attorneys from representing plaintiffs who sued OptumRx Inc., a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM), in the opioid MDL.
October 25, 2024
Preemption Under FDCA Dooms Some Claims In Defective Birth Control Device Suit

AMARILLO, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge partially granted motions for dismissal filed by the manufacturer, distributor and parent company of a birth control device that a woman alleges failed and caused her to become pregnant, finding that certain claims are preempted by federal law.
October 24, 2024
N.J. High Court Agrees To Create Multicounty Litigation For Bard Port Cases

TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Supreme Court posted a notice to the state bar that the court has designated as a multicounty litigation (MCL) state court cases alleging injuries caused by C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter products.
October 23, 2024
Victims Of Opioid Crisis: Purdue Bankruptcy Court Focus Should Be On Resolution

NEW YORK — The Ad Hoc Group of Individual Victims (Ad Hoc PI Group), which represents more than 60,000 individuals in Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy case who have suffered from opioid addiction or are family members of individuals who died from drug overdoses, tells the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York that it supports the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors’ (UCC) motion for standing to pursue estate claims.
October 23, 2024
Indiana Woman Says Use Of Depo-Provera Caused Her To Develop Brain Tumors

INDIANAPOLIS — The manufacturer of Depo-Provera, a long-lasting injectable contraceptive, concealed the risk that using the product increases the risk of developing meningioma brain tumors, a couple alleges in a complaint filed in an Indiana federal court.
October 22, 2024
D.C., 17 States To 4th Circuit: N.C.’s Mifepristone Restrictions Are Preempted

RICHMOND, Va. — A district court’s ruling that found that parts of North Carolina’s abortion laws are preempted by federal law protected “patient access to essential reproductive health care without trammeling states’ rights,” the District of Columbia and 17 states say in an amicus curiae brief filed in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in support a doctor who sued the state over its laws regulating mifepristone, one of the two drugs prescribed for medication abortions, and the state’s attorney general, who did not object to the doctor’s arguments.
October 21, 2024
Insurer, Medical Product Manufacturer Settle Coverage Dispute

CONCORD, N.H. — Attorneys for an insurer and a medical product manufacturer insured notified a New Hampshire federal court that they have settled the insurer’s declaratory judgment lawsuit pertaining to 10 underlying class actions alleging that the insured manufactured and marketed medical devices used to clean positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bi-level positive airway pressure (biPAP) devices that were not safe or effective.