Life SciencesRSS

  • June 14, 2007

    Ortho-McNeil, Plaintiffs Skirt Calif. Venue

    In the battle over jurisdiction in an Ortho Evra birth control patch suit, a California district court refused Wednesday plaintiffs' request to remand the case to state court while it awaits word from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on whether the case will be consolidated.

  • June 12, 2007

    Discovery In Seroquel Cases Gets OK

    Drug maker Astrazeneca PLC obtained court permission on Monday to conduct discovery on a large number of individual cases in a multidistrict litigation including over 7,000 plaintiffs, raising issues about the role of discovery in multidistrict cases.

  • June 12, 2007

    ImClone Fires Counsel Following Sanctions

    Pharmaceutical company ImClone Inc. said on Tuesday that it would no longer employ Kenyon & Kenyon LLP as its defense counsel in its patent litigation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and rival company Repligen Corp.

  • June 12, 2007

    GSK Faces More Headaches Over Avandia

    GlaxoSmithKline PLC continues to face trouble after its diabetes drug, Avandia, was reported to increase the risk of heart attacks in patients. Another lawsuit was filed Monday, this time by a shareholder.

  • June 12, 2007

    Medtronic Braces For Face-Off In Court

    In the long and litigious battle Medtronic has been fighting with customers over its allegedly faulty defibrillators, a district judge has handed down an amended pretrial order outlining the schedule and rules for discovery in the suit's imminent trial.

  • June 12, 2007

    Medtronic Asserts Corrected Claims Against Cordis

    In the latest development in the legal battle between Medtronic Inc. and Cordis Corp. over the lucrative market for drug-coated coronary stents, Medtronic has filed an infringement suit against Cordis based on a patent that was formally corrected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the end of May.

  • June 12, 2007

    Lilly Settles Scores Of Zyprexa Suits

    Eli Lilly & Co. has settled an additional 900 lawsuits surrounding its controversial anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa, a day after a judge denied the pharmaceutical giant's motion for summary judgment in three suits in the multidistrict product liability litigation.

  • June 12, 2007

    High Court Nixes Pfizer's Bid For Quick Review

    The nation's highest court has rejected Pfizer Inc.'s request to expedite its bid for a writ of certiorari in a patent feud with Apotex Inc. over blockbuster blood pressure drug Norvasc.

  • June 12, 2007

    Ortho-McNeil Denies Birth-Control Patch Claims

    Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Co., which faces multidistrict litigation over its popular birth control patch Ortho Evra, has disputed that its patch was at fault for allegedly causing serious illnesses and at least one death.

  • June 12, 2007

    Bristol-Myers Bids To Exclude Evidence

    Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has filed a slew of motions to exclude certain evidence from being presented at an upcoming jury trial over allegations that it and other major pharmaceutical companies inflated average wholesale drug prices.

  • June 25, 2007

    Autism Case Sparks Debate Over Vaccine Program

    A closely watched test case that centers on an alleged link between routine childhood vaccines and autism has raised a fresh debate over the adequacy of a federally mandated compensation system meant to address injuries and deaths caused by vaccinations.

  • June 11, 2007

    Express Scripts Gets Fraud Charges Dismissed

    The Supreme Court's recent Twombly decision was once again put to use on a defendant's behalf in a federal case, when a judge on Thursday granted a pharmacy benefit management company's motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs' fraud charges were too ambiguous to merit continued proceedings.

  • June 11, 2007

    Metabolife Settles More Ephedra Claims

    Metabolife International Inc. on Thursday settled with six estates in ongoing multidistrict product liability litigation over its diet pills containing ephedra.

  • June 11, 2007

    Purdue Sues KV Over OxyContin Patent

    Less than two weeks after a Manhattan court entered a consent judgment that marked an end to a patent infringement battle over the painkiller OxyContin, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP has filed a new lawsuit against KV Pharmaceutical Co. asserting three patents covering controlled-release oxycodone.

  • June 11, 2007

    Court Sanctions ImClone, IP Attorneys

    A court imposed sanctions on Friday against pharmaceutical company ImClone Inc. and its attorneys for allegedly intimidating a witness in a patent infringement suit. MIT first moved for sanctions in March of 2006 in response to questions directed at one of its expert witnesses.

  • June 11, 2007

    Suit Alleges Biotech Firm Lied About FDA Trials

    Trouble continues to mount for the biotechnology company Dendreon Corp. since it announced in May that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked for more information regarding its advanced prostate cancer drug, Provenge. At least three securities lawsuits have been filed, two coming in the last week.

  • June 11, 2007

    Teva, Novartis To Compete For Generic Lotrel

    A federal court judge on Monday lifted a restraining order which prevented drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. from distributing a copycat version of Novartis AG's Lotrel, allowing both companies to compete in the generic market for the hypertension drug.

  • June 11, 2007

    Proveris Wins Permanent Injunction Against Rival

    Proveris Scientific Corp. said Monday that it had won a patent infringement suit that would stop rival InnovaSystems Inc. from selling its own version of a product that tests pharmaceutical sprays for accuracy.

  • June 11, 2007

    Judge Stays Schering Clarinex Patent Suit

    A district judge has put on hold one of two lawsuits Schering-Plough Corp. has filed against several generic drug makers over patents covering Clarinex allergy medication after finding that there would be a “substantial” danger of unfair prejudice to Schering if the case moved forward.

  • June 11, 2007

    Pfizer Seeks To Toss Celebrex, Bextra Cases

    Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc. has asked a judge to dismiss complaints filed in multidistrict litigation over anti-inflammatory painkillers Celebrex and Bextra on the grounds that the plaintiffs didn't claim that deceptive advertising drove them to buy the drugs.