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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • October 13, 2025

    Mans Argues Court Erred In Awarding Surgical Stapler Maker Summary Judgment

    RICHMOND, Va. — A district court decision to award summary judgment to the manufacturer of a surgical stapler “rested on two key erroneous facts,” a man who alleges he was injured by the defective stapler argues in his opening brief in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • October 10, 2025

    Judge: Man Injured By COVID Vaccine May Not Sue HHS To Put Shot On Injury Table

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Finding that a man claiming to have suffered a blood clotting disorder as a consequence of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine could achieve redress only via an act of Congress and, therefore, had no standing to sue the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to force it to add the vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT), a District of Columbia federal judge granted the federal government’s motion to dismiss.

  • October 09, 2025

    Man Files Class Action, Alleges Sleeping Supplement Contained Addictive Sedative

    ATLANTA — A recovering addict who unknowingly consumed a psychoactive sedative while taking a dietary supplement for sleep has filed a putative class action in a Georgia federal court, alleging that the label failed to list the sedative, which is banned in the United States; he also seeks to represent a subclass of California consumers alleging violation of the state’s unfair competition law (UCL) (Jason McCool v. Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. 25-5668, N.D. Ga.).

  • October 09, 2025

    Depo-Provera MDL, Pending In Fla. Federal Court, Heads To New York For Conference

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — The next case management conference for 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, will be held in New York, the Florida federal judge who is overseeing the cases said Oct. 8.

  • October 09, 2025

    Women Alleging Embryo Tests Were Faulty Say Clinic’s Dismissal Motion Fails

    DENVER — A fertility clinic company that moved to dismiss a complaint filed by a putative class of women who say the company made false and misleading representations to consumers about its preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) mischaracterized the “straightforward consumer fraud case” as a medical malpractice action, the women say in opposing the motion.

  • October 08, 2025

    9th Circuit Finds Dismissal Of Claims Was Error, But Jurisdiction Not Met

    SAN FRANCISCO — A district court erred in dismissing product liability claims brought by former members of the U.S. military who allege that they were injured after ingesting military-prescribed mefloquine products, an anti-malarial medication, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in an Oct. 7 unpublished opinion, finding that the political question doctrine does not apply.

  • October 07, 2025

    OptumRx Argues Deposition In Opioid MDL Should Be Put On Hold To Avoid Duplication

    CLEVELAND — A pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) in the nationwide opioid multidistrict litigation on Oct. 6 objected to a ruling by the special master overseeing the MDL denying its motion for a protective order regarding a deposition that the PBM says will give counsel for the plaintiffs “two bites at the apple.”

  • October 07, 2025

    Law Firm In Thalidomide Cases Says Sanctions Not Warranted, No Misconduct

    PHILADELPHIA — A law firm and its managing partner, who represented plaintiffs who claimed that they suffered birth defects as a result of their mothers being given the drug thalidomide to treat morning sickness during their pregnancies, tell a Pennsylvania federal judge in response to a show cause order that sanctions are not warranted for the firm’s alleged misconduct during the litigation, which began in 2011.

  • October 07, 2025

    Woman Says Dupixent Caused T-Cell Lymphoma, Death Of Her Mother, Sues Drugmakers

    NASHVILLE — A daughter has sued the manufacturers of Dupixent, a prescription medication used for the treatment of asthma and inflammatory skin conditions, in a Tennessee federal court, alleging that her mother died of T-cell lymphoma that was caused by the injection of the drug and that the drugmakers failed to warn about the risk.

  • October 03, 2025

    Texas Federal Judge Sends Mifepristone Case To Missouri Federal Court

    AMARILLO, Texas — Because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the original plaintiffs in a case challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, lacked standing, a Texas federal judge found that Missouri, Idaho and Kansas did not intervene in a jurisdictionally valid case and that transfer of the case to a Missouri federal court is proper.

  • October 02, 2025

    Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

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

  • October 02, 2025

    Depo-Provera MDL Judge Rejects Woman’s Remand Motion, Dismisses Pharmacy

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — Illinois law does not extend a duty to warn to dispensing pharmacies, the federal judge in Florida who is overseeing the Depo-Provera multidistrict litigation ruled, rejecting a woman’s argument to remand her case to an Illinois state court after it was transferred to the MDL.

  • October 02, 2025

    Relator Appeals Dismissal Of FCA Suit Against Publix Super Markets

    TAMPA, Fla. — An organization comprising two former Publix Super Markets pharmacists that alleges that the grocery chain violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly filling prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances that it knew were improper is appealing to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by a Florida federal judge that dismissed its second amended complaint with prejudice.

  • October 01, 2025

    Defective Medical Device Case Heads Back To Missouri State Court After Remand Win

    ST. LOUIS — A medical device manufacturer did not show that its sales representative was fraudulently joined in a design defect case filed in a Missouri state court and removed to federal court, a federal judge in the state ruled Sept. 30, granting a couple’s motion to remand.

  • October 01, 2025

    Depo-Provera MDL Judge Hears Arguments On Whether Preemption Laws Bar Cases

    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, heard oral arguments on whether the claims are preempted by federal law.

  • October 01, 2025

    Calif. Federal Judge Agrees To Trim Claims Against Telehealth Company Sued By Lilly

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge partially granted a motion to dismiss filed by an online telehealth platform that sells compounded versions of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, finding that a manufacturer failed to state a claim based on allegations that the compounded drugs are not “safe and effective.”

  • October 01, 2025

    Tribe Voluntarily Dismisses Complaint Alleging Insulin Pricing Scheme

    NEWARK, N.J. — The Miccosukee Tribe in Florida will stop pursuing claims that drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) conspired to increase the costs of insulin and other medications to treat diabetes, including glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) drugs that help control insulin levels, according to a notice of voluntary dismissal filed in a New Jersey federal court.

  • September 30, 2025

    N.J. Federal Judge Denies Motion For Reconsideration In Insulin Pricing Dispute

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge refused to reconsider his order that dismissed certain claims in a case alleging that three drug manufacturers engaged in an unfair and unconscionable pricing scheme for their analog insulin products, finding that the “extraordinary remedy” is unwarranted.

  • September 29, 2025

    Oral Arguments Postponed In Appeal Of Autism-ADHD MDL Expert Exclusion

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rescheduled oral arguments in an appeal over whether a district court erred in excluding testimony from experts retained by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after receiving letters from the parties in the wake of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announcing a possible link between the use of the drug and the disorders.

  • September 29, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Upholds FDA’s Summary Judgment In Generic Drug Approval Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s arguments on appeal, disputing a district court judge’s denial of its motion for summary judgment in a case contesting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a generic version of its heart failure drug Entresto, gave the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “no reason to question the FDA’s expert judgment regarding these scientific issues,” the court said in a Sept. 26 opinion.

  • September 26, 2025

    HHS, FDA To Conduct Review Of Abortion Drug Mifepristone Safety, REMS Requirements

    The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told attorneys general from 22 states that the government will be “conducting its own review of the evidence, including real-world outcomes and evidence, relating to the safety and efficacy of” mifepristone, one of the two drugs prescribed for medication abortions.

  • September 25, 2025

    Manufacturer Of Embryo Culture Media Loses Bid To Dismiss Case Brought By Couple

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A lawsuit against the manufacturer of an embryo culture media that a couple alleges was defective and led to the failure of their in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure can move forward, a New Mexico federal judge ruled, denying the manufacturer’s motion to dismiss but holding that the couple failed to plead the claims against its parent company.

  • September 25, 2025

    Pharmacies Urge 2nd Look By Texas Supreme Court In Counties’ Opioid Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — The misreading of a Texas Supreme Court decision by Texas counties that sued a group of pharmacies for their role in the opioid epidemic will leave those counties “emboldened to find another set of businesses to target” and “could cause serious harm to people across this State,” the pharmacies argue in asking for a rehearing of their denied petition for review.

  • September 24, 2025

    Judge Tosses FCA Suit Related To Drug Patent Pursuant To Public Disclosure Bar

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Sept. 23 dismissed a qui tam relator’s suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and related state laws regarding pharmaceutical companies’ purported fraudulently obtained patents for the drug Xyrem resulting in government health insurers reimbursing Xyrem prescriptions “at inflated prices,” finding that facts in the complaint were previously disclosed and that the public disclosure bar applies.

  • September 24, 2025

    Pfizer Agrees To End 2 Groups’ Zantac Claims In Connecticut State Court

    WATERBURY, Conn. — Pfizer Inc. has reached a settlement to end claims brought by two groups who allege injuries from ingestion of generic ranitidine products, according to notices of settlement filed in a Connecticut state court.