Finding the case long on conclusory allegations but short on supporting evidence, an Illinois federal judge has dismissed a product liability lawsuit against Vanity Fair Brands by a woman who said wearing Vassarette bras caused her to develop breast cancer.
15 May 2013Ronald V. Baker
U.S. District Judge Sharon J. Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois said that while she empathizes with Sheila Rose’s “quest to find a reason for her unfortunate medical situation,” the suit fails to state a viable claim for relief.
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California-based biotechnology firm Amgen Inc. will pay nearly $25 million to settle U.S. Justice Department claims that it paid kickbacks to pharmacies and encouraged “off-label” uses to increase the sales of its anemia drug Aranesp.
24 Apr 2013Ronald V. Baker
The federal government will get $17.8 million, with the rest to be split among several states and the District of Columbia, which joined the suit, according to a Justice Department statement.
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An in-house attorney for drug manufacturer Merck & Co. did not libel a whistle-blower when he wrote to tell the man his complaint was “unfounded,” a Philadelphia federal judge has ruled.
12 Apr 2013Ronald V. Baker
U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that Merck’s legal director, Thomas Fitzgibbon, did not intend to blacken Leo Gibney’s reputation when he responded to Gibney’s claim that Gibney’s former employer, Evolution Inc., had overbilled Merck.
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The parents of a Kentucky child who allegedly suffered a series of shocks when her cochlear implant leaked may proceed to trial with negligence and strict liability claims against the device’s manufacturer, a federal judge has ruled.
10 Apr 2013Ronald V. Baker
U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II of the Western District of Kentucky held, however, that federal law preempts the parents’ claims for fraud and breach of implied warranty.
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Citing federal preemption, a Cincinnati federal judge has dismissed a negligence lawsuit that alleged a Boston Scientific Corp. spinal cord stimulator caused a woman’s spinal column infection.
15 Mar 2013Ronald V. Baker
Senior U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel of the Southern District of Ohio granted the company’s dismissal motion, finding that plaintiff Ingrid Anderson’s state-law-based negligent-manufacture claim conflicts with the federal regulations that Boston Scientific must follow.
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AstraZeneca’s formulation patent on the popular anti-psychotic drug Seroquel XR is valid and has been infringed by potential generic competitors, a federal appeals court has ruled.
13 Mar 2013Ronald V. Baker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in full a March 2012 finding by a New Jersey federal judge that the patent on the extended-release drug, issued in September 1999, shields Seroquel XR (quetiapine fumarate) from copycats until it expires in May 2017.
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A federal judge in Worcester, Mass., will oversee a consolidated multidistrict litigation proceeding for the growing number of suits filed over the deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak linked to tainted steroid injection solution from a Massachusetts pharmacy.
27 Feb 2013Ronald V. Baker
According to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV was tapped for the task because he is familiar with issues surrounding the 48 deaths and 714 meningitis cases linked to the product, sold by the New England Compounding Center.
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A federal appeals court has let a Burger King customer sue the fast-food chain for allegedly selling him a hamburger topped with an employee’s phlegm, now that the Washington Supreme Court found that the man’s state law claim is valid.
27 Feb 2013Ronald V. Baker
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had asked the state high court to determine if the customer could seek emotional-distress damages under the Washington Product Liability Act, Wash. Rev. Code chapter 7.72, without showing physical injury.
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Bayer Healthcare’s drug-releasing Mirena intrauterine device migrated out of place and perforated the wall of a woman’s uterus, requiring surgical removal, according to a California federal court lawsuit.
27 Feb 2013Ronald V. Baker
The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California says plaintiff Miriam Cruz learned after experiencing severe abdominal pain in March 2011 that her three-year-old Mirena levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device had pierced her uterus and that manufacturer Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals fraudulently concealed such risks in promotional materials for the product.
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A federal class-action consumer fraud lawsuit accuses Pfizer of deceptively marketing the antidepressant Zoloft since 1991, knowing that clinical trials have shown it to be “no better than a sugar pill.”
27 Feb 2013Ronald V. Baker
The suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that “Pfizer has engaged in a calculated campaign to mislead consumers and prescribing health care professionals about Zoloft’s ability to treat depression.”
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