Category Archives: Drug Companies

With over 1.5 million drug and medical device related injuries each year, consumers are forced to take legal action. Find out if you have a lawsuit. Read news stories about dangerous medical devices and prescription drugs, health studies and pharmaceutical litigation.

Blog, Business Law, Drug Companies, Legal News

Sun Pharma settles US patent litigation with Actavis over skin care drug

Reghu Balakrishnan

 

The settlement is subject to review by the US Federal Trade Commission and the US department of justice, Sun Pharma said. Photo: Bloomberg

Mumbai: Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, has settled a patent litigation with Actavis over the generic version of Absorica, a drug used to treat acne.

Ranbaxy, along with its partners, Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Galephar Pharmaceutical Research, Inc. have entered into a settlement with Actavis that dismisses the lawsuit relating to Actavis’s abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for a generic version of Absorica (isotretinoin capsules), Sun Pharma said.

Absorica is used to treat severe recalcitrant nodular acne, a skin disease, in patients 12 years of age and older.

As part of the agreement, Ranbaxy, Cipher and Galephar have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Actavis under which Actavis may start selling its generic version of Absorica in the US on 27 December 2020 (nine months before the expiration of the patents in September 2021) or earlier under certain circumstances, it said.

In 2014, Ranbaxy had introduced Absorica 25 mg and 35 mg capsules in the US after the product was licensed from Cipher Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

The settlement is subject to review by the US Federal Trade Commission and the US department of justice, Sun Pharma said.

Read Full Article – http://www.livemint.com/Companies/FzFiRFnBqLKVKWbhCBYnfM/Sun-Pharma-settles-patent-litigation-with-Actavis.html

Blog, Drug Companies, Legal News, Personal Injury

Firm that allegedly took $93M in financing to buy thousands of pelvic mesh cases leads in TV advertising, report says

John O’Brien

Oct. 27, 2015, 12:52pm

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Legal Newsline) – Trial lawyers will spend almost $900 million this year in broadcast advertising, a new report projects, with a firm that allegedly recently took in more than $90 million in funding to purchase lawsuits leading the way.

vagina mesh lawsuits

The report, written by University of San Francisco professor Ken Goldstein and Dhavan Shah of Sherpa Metrix, was prepared for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform’s annual summit, held Tuesday.

Goldstein and Shah’s research showed that broadcast advertising has grown by 68 percent over the past eight years, from $531 million in 2008 to a projected $892 million in 2015.

“(L)egal advertising not only appears to be recession-proof, but also politics-proof,” the report says.

“Unlike other major sectors, such as automotive advertising, legal advertising is unaffected by the onslaught of rate-raising political ads that flood many markets in election years.”

Goldstein and Shah project that AkinMears of Houston will spend more than $25 million this year. They reached that figure by obtaining the amount the firm has already spent this year, as of Sept. 30, and prorating it to the end of the year.

A lawsuit recently filed against the firm said it obtained $93 million in financing to purchase 14,000 pelvic mesh lawsuits.

Following closely behind AkinMears in TV spending is Morgan & Morgan and the Houston firm Pulaski & Middleman.

The others in the top 10 in TV spending are Legalzoom.com; James Sokolove Law Firm; Goldwater Law Firm; Los Defensores Attorney; Avvo; Jim S. Adler; and Cellino & Barnes.

The Tampa, Fla., market has seen the most legal ads this year with more than 164,000. It is followed by Orlando, Fla.; Atlanta; Las Vegas; Milwaukee; Detroit, Louisville, Ky.; Birmingham, Ala.; Mobile, Ala.; and Houston.

The four categories seeing the most spending are prescription drugs ($57.3 million), medical devices ($45.7 million), asbestos ($45.6 million) and lawsuit funding ($39.6 million).

The report also studied trial lawyers’ efforts to promote their websites. Seventy-eight of the top 100 Google search terms were legal terms, according to WebpageFX and SemRush.

A firm that would want a higher place for its ad on the Google search “San Antonio car wreck attorney” would need to spend more money than any other legal search term, the report showed.

The ILR owns Legal Newsline.

From Legal Newsline: Reach editor John O’Brien at jobrienwv@gmail.com.

For Full Article – http://setexasrecord.com/stories/510645217-firm-that-allegedly-took-93m-in-financing-to-buy-thousands-of-pelvic-mesh-cases-leads-in-tv-advertising-report-says

Blog, Drug Companies, Legal News

GNC Sued for Selling Drug-Laced Supplements Seating Chair

By Hilda Schwartz

Oct 26, 2015 Seating Chair – Independent NEWS Agency – SeatingChair.com

The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, accuses GNC of violating Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act because it misrepresented products sold in Oregon as “lawful dietary supplements, when in fact these products were adulterated and unlawful”.

The dietary supplements allegedly contain the illegal ingredient picamilon and BMPEA. It alleges GNC knowingly sold products containing an amphetamine-like substance that isn’t approved for diet pills in the USA – and left it off the label. Products containing BMPEA or picamilon were produced by third parties and accounted for less than 1 percent of total sales, GNC said.

The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to five companies in April telling them that eight of their products listed BMPEA and telling them to stop selling them. In a brief statement, GNC responded to the lawsuit, saying that the allegations are “without merit” and that they will “vigorously defend against these allegations”.

This is just the latest in a fight that has been going on for years between state and federal officials and supplements retailers like GNC.

Full Article –  http://seatingchair.com/2015/10/26/gnc-sued-for-selling-drug-laced-supplements-13459.html

Blog, Drug Companies, Legal News, Personal Injury

Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon Morcellator Lawsuits Centralized

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Lawsuits involving one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies and one of the most controversial medical devices in the U.S. now are centralized to a single court.

Johnson & Johnson is accused of hiding knowledge that its power morcellator could cause an accidental spread of uterine cancer during hysterectomies and surgeries to remove fibroids.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred at least 28 morcellator lawsuits to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, a multidistrict litigation (MDL) court.

“This decision by the panel is an extremely important one because it ensures that these cases will move at the fastest possible pace,” said Paul Pennock, a lead attorney at Weitz & Luxenberg who led the arguments for consolidation.

Courts consolidate lawsuits to MDLs when a large number of plaintiffs file lawsuits involving the same facts against the same defendant. The process allows the courts to operate more efficiently and decreases the costs for all parties involved.

“We believe this will allow our clients to obtain justice much more swiftly and reliably than might otherwise be the case if each client were compelled to battle the defendants in isolated courtrooms scattered across the country,” Pennock said.

The lawsuits accuse Ethicon, a subsidiary of J&J, of designing a defective product and failing to warn patients of risks.

Morcellator Controversy Growing

The surgical tool that uses small blades to break tissue into small fragments remains one of the most controversial devices in the U.S.

One congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, fought for amendments to regulate medical devices to be added to the 21st Century Cures Act that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July. The amendments stemmed from news that some women were rapidly developing cancer after surgeries involving the device.

Months later, members of Congress led by Fitzpatrick petitioned the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate the devices and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration process that cleared them. The GAO agreed to investigate morcellators and the FDA in September.

The recent news adds to an existing history of controversy involving power morcellators that began more than a year ago, and Johnson & Johnson’s name keeps coming up.

J&J, Ethicon May Have Known of Risks

Morcellators were once thought to have an extremely rare risk of unintentionally spreading uterine cancer, but the FDA warned the actual risk was one in 350 in April 2014. The warning came almost two decades after the device entered the market.

Read Full Article Here – http://www.drugwatch.com/2015/10/20/ethicon-morcellator-mdl-kansas/