On December 19, 2013, Judge Joseph Goodwin issued a scheduling Order for the Boston Scientific vaginal mesh cases that will result in four hundred cases going through the pipeline to two separate trial dates on October 14, 2014 and February 15, 2015. The Court ordered...
Drug and Medical Device Litigation
GSK to Stop Paying Doctors for Promoting Its Products
In the history of drug litigation, one fact that clearly emerged is that companies paid doctors a lot of money or provided a great deal of free samples and gifts to promote their drugs. Also, sales reps had sales targets for specific doctors and were often given...
GSK Continues to Pay for Avandia Claims
Problems with Avandia continue to haunt GSK. Previously, GSK has settled thousands of claims over Avandia while claiming there is nothing wrong with the onetime diabetes wonder drug. And now confronted with allegations brought by the State of Utah the drug giant...
Next Bard Transvaginal Mesh Trial Set for December 3, 2013
The next Bard vaginal mesh implant is set to commence December 3, 2013 in U.S. District in West Virginia. Judge Joseph Goodwin will preside over the case, Carolyn Jones v. C. R. Bard, Inc. 2:11-cv-00114. Jones alleges that Bard Avaulta Plus vaginal mesh implant gave...
Class 1 Recall Issued by FDA Over Medtronic Faulty Cardiac Guidewires
Medtronic, Inc. initially began notifying hospitals and distributors worldwide in October 2013 that some models of its guidewires used in cardiac procedures could lose the coating on their surface resulting in the detachment and delaminating of the guidewires. If the...
3,697 da Vinci Adverse-Events Reported – Doubling Reported Events in 2012
According to the FDA, Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci Robot system has received 3,697 adverse reports through November 3, 2013. This number is more than double of the number of adverse events Intuitive Surgical received last year at this time. Last year, the da Vinci...
Whistleblowers, Undercover Employees Wearing Wires Led To Johnson & Johnson’s Guilty Plea Involving Risperdal
As reported earlier, Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion due to its practices of improper marketing and failure to warn. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, admitted that it promoted Risperdal to health care providers for treatment...
Big Pharma: Is Paying Big Fines More Profitable than Telling Doctors and Consumers the Truth in Marketing?
This week, Johnson & Johnson etched its name in the history books of another big pharma company that has been fined over billions of dollars due to a drug manufacturer practices of improper marketing and failure to warn. Johnson & Johnson pled guilty to...
Johnson & Johnson Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges and is Fined $2.2 Billion for Improperly Marketing Risperdal
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JPI), a Johnson and Johnson company, has pled guilty to claims stemming from allegations that the giant pharmaceutical company knowingly marketed the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal for inappropriate uses and paid kickbacks to doctors and...
United Kingdom Seeks to Eliminate the Use of Metal-on-Metal Implants Due to High Failure Rate
Because of the high failure rates of metal on metal hip devices, and the potential for toxic exposure, the United Kingdom is moving to ban all metal-on-metal hip replacements performed at National Health Service [NHS] hospitals. NHS is the publicly funded health care...