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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • April 27, 2026

    Taxotere Eye Injury MDL Judge Rules On Motions To Exclude Expert Testimony

    NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving cases alleging that a chemotherapy drug caused eye injuries on April 24 denied a motion filed by the manufacturer to exclude an expert retained by the plaintiffs from testifying and agreed to limit what the manufacturer’s expert can opine about in relation to the label on the drug.

  • April 27, 2026

    Pharmaceutical Company Sued For Antitrust Appeals No D&O Coverage Ruling

    GREENBELT, Md.— A pharmaceutical company insured filed a notice appealing a Maryland federal court’s grant of a directors and officers liability insurer’s motion to dismiss its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for an underlying antitrust action arising from its acquisition of the rights to distribute a prescription medication used to treat mobility issues in people with advanced Parkinson's disease.

  • April 27, 2026

    Government Seeks Stay In Vaccine Changes Suit Pending Appeal Of Preliminary Relief

    BOSTON — In a challenge by physicians’ professional groups and others to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s changes to vaccine recommendations and the reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the federal government moved for a stay of the proceedings pending the resolution of any appeal it might seek of a Massachusetts federal court’s grant of preliminary relief that stayed a January U.S. Department of Health and Human Services memorandum announcing the reduction of the recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11 and the appointment of 13 new ACIP members.

  • April 27, 2026

    Makers Of Dupixent, Plaintiffs Agree On MDL Centralization But Will Debate Where

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The manufacturers of Dupixent, a prescription medication used for the treatment of asthma and inflammatory skin conditions, and individuals in cases across the country that allege that the drug causes cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a rare type of cancer that affects white blood cells called T cells or T lymphocytes, will be able to present oral arguments on May 28 before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on which federal court the cases should be centralized.

  • April 24, 2026

    Judge Says Lilly’s Suit Against Mochi For Compounded Drug Can Move Forward

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge found that Eli Lilly and Co. established standing in its amended complaint alleging unfair competition and false advertising claims against a telehealth company that sells a compounded version of tirzepatide, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for diabetes and weight loss, and largely denied the company’s motion to dismiss.

  • April 23, 2026

    Keller Postman Appeals Philadelphia Judge’s Refusal To Recuse In Zantac Cases

    PHILADELPHIA — Counsel for a man with a case pending in a Zantac mass tort litigation centralized in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas appealed a judge’s refusal to recuse himself from all Zantac cases over claims that the judge’s wife’s involvement with Zantac litigation created a conflict of interest.

  • April 22, 2026

    4th Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment For Surgical Stapler Maker After Deadline Missed

    RICHMOND, Va. — A district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to amend a scheduling order to extend an expert disclosure deadline for a man who alleges that he was injured by the defective stapler, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, affirming summary judgment for the manufacturer.

  • April 16, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • April 16, 2026

    5th Circuit Will Consider Whether Taxotere MDL Judge Erred Denying Summary Judgment

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will consider through an interlocutory appeal whether the Louisiana federal judge overseeing a multidistrict litigation involving a chemotherapy drug that allegedly caused eye injuries erred in denying summary judgment to a manufacturer and rejecting its argument that the claims against it are preempted by federal law.

  • April 16, 2026

    McKinsey To Pay $125M To Purdue To Settle Claims Stemming From Consulting Work

    NEW YORK — McKinsey & Co. Inc. has agreed to contribute $125 million to a trust to settle any claims that the consulting company helped Purdue Pharma LP contribute to the opioid epidemic through its work devising and implementing opioid sales and marketing strategies, according to a notice filed in Purdue’s bankruptcy case pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

  • April 15, 2026

    Family Of Woman Who Died After Taking Compounded GLP-1 Drug Sues Pharmacy

    HOUSTON — The family of a woman who died after taking compounded semaglutide from a Texas-based compounding pharmacy seeks to represent a nationwide class of consumers who purchased medications or health care providers who sourced their medications from the pharmacy, which they allege “disregard[ed] regulatory requirements and patient safety,” according to a complaint filed in a Texas state court.

  • April 15, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Benzene Suit For Failure To State A Claim But Grants Leave To Amend

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge will allow a woman one more chance to amend her putative class complaint alleging that companies violated various California consumer protection laws by manufacturing and selling products containing benzene.

  • April 15, 2026

    Relator: Lilly Waived Constitutional Argument, High Court Must Reject Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should let stand a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that affirmed a final judgment of $193 million for a qui tam relator who sued Eli Lilly & Co. for reporting falsely deflated drug prices to the government in order to profit off of drug rebate programs because the two questions presented to the high court by the drug manufacturer “are uniquely poor candidates for this Court’s review,” the relator contends in an April 14 opposition brief.

  • April 15, 2026

    Albertsons Agrees To $774 Million Settlement For Nationwide Opioid Claims

    BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons Companies Inc. announced in an April 14 press release that “it has reached a $774 million settlement framework to resolve substantially all of the opioid-related claims brought against the Company by state, local and tribal government entities nationally.”

  • April 14, 2026

    States Say Ruling In Other Mifepristone Case Supports Their Standing Argument

    ST. LOUIS — Missouri, Idaho and Kansas, which are challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, point to a recent decision by a Louisiana federal court that granted the FDA’s motion to stay all proceedings in that case but also found that the state had standing.

  • April 13, 2026

    Makers Of Mifepristone Say States Lack Standing In Challenge To FDA’s Decisions

    WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The drug manufacturers of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, moved separately in a Texas federal court to dismiss a case brought by Florida and Texas that challenges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2000 of mifepristone and the agency’s subsequent approvals, including allowing the drug to be mailed.

  • April 10, 2026

    Woman Says Defective Pacemaker Case Was Improperly Removed To Federal Court

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A woman who alleges that a defective pacemaker had to be removed and caused injuries argues in a motion to remand that “[c]omplete diversity between the parties does not exist” and that the case was wrongly removed to a Connecticut federal court.

  • April 09, 2026

    Judge Grants Stay In Louisiana Case Challenging Remote Dispensing Of Mifepristone

    LAFAYETTE, La. — Louisiana and a woman, who are challenging the validity of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, on April 8 appealed to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by a federal judge that denied their motion for a preliminary injunction and granted the FDA’s motion to stay the case while the agency conducts a review of its previous rulings.

  • April 09, 2026

    Case Alleging CPAP Machine Caused Lung Cancer Transferred To MDL Over Objections

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer who requires ongoing treatment from medical providers in California was unable to convince the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) that his case should not be transferred to the multidistrict litigation involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices pending in a Pennsylvania federal court.

  • April 08, 2026

    Mississippi Contends Maryland High Court Opioid Ruling Has No Bearing On Its Case

    JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi told a federal court in the state that a recent decision by the Maryland Supreme Court that the dispensing of opioids by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), mail order pharmacies and retail pharmacies does not constitute an actionable public nuisance “applies vastly different state law” and does not support PBMs’ motion to dismiss claims pending against them in a Mississippi federal court.

  • April 08, 2026

    Michigan Federal Judge Won’t Remand Opioid Distribution Case To State Court

    DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge refused to remand to state court a case filed by the attorney general for Michigan alleging that two of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) violated the state’s public nuisance laws by contributing to the oversupply of opioids.

  • April 08, 2026

    Judge Trims Claims Against Manufacturer In Defective Cochlear Implant Case

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge adopted the recommendations from a magistrate judge and agreed to partially grant a motion to dismiss filed by a cochlear implant manufacturer after finding that many claims are preempted by federal law.

  • April 02, 2026

    Judge: Plaintiffs’ Expert Can Opine On Design Defects In Bard Port Catheter MDL

    PHOENIX — A biomaterials scientist retained by the plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter (IPC) device can largely offer her opinions on design defects but cannot opine that a certain defect led to a risk of infection, the judge overseeing the MDL said after finding that the scientist’s testimony meets the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • April 02, 2026

    Lilly: Medicare Drug Rebate False Claims Case Should Be Reviewed By High Court

    CHICAGO — Eli Lilly & Co. urges the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that affirmed a final judgment of $193 million for a qui tam relator who sued Lilly for reporting falsely deflated drug prices to the government in order to profit off of drug rebate programs, arguing in a petition for a writ of certiorari that the case “vividly illustrates the real-world problems with the . . . qui tam regime” under the False Claims Act (FCA).

  • April 02, 2026

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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