PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on April 9 refused to reconsider her order granting certification of a class of indirect purchasers who are suing the producers and distributors of Wellbutrin XL for illegally conspiring to prevent generic versions of the drug from entering the American...

PHILADELPHIA - Saying the plaintiff failed to marshal sufficient facts to support her consumer fraud claims, a Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed a putative class action over flaming box fans on April 10, but granted the plaintiff leave to refile ( Deborah Osness, individually and on behalf of all...

SAN DIEGO - A California federal judge on April 30 allowed plaintiffs in a vitamin class action to conduct discovery into defendant Bayer Corp.'s profits and expenses to possibly determine "restitutionary disgorgement" of profits (David Johns, et al. v. Bayer Corporation, et al., No. 3...

PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on May 11 granted summary judgment to the producers and distributors of Wellbutrin XL on direct and indirect purchasers' claims that the defendants illegally conspired to prevent generic versions of the drug from entering the American market by filing...

PHILADELPHIA - A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 18 reversed and remanded a ruling, concluding that the class action claims against bankrupt Owens Corning related to defective roof shingles were not discharged in the company's bankruptcy proceeding (Patricia Wright, et al...

PHILADELPHIA - The Pennsylvania federal judge supervising consumer fraud litigation against the manufacturer and distributor of a generic version of the antidepressant Wellbutrin XL approved a settlement on July 2 that incorporates only injunctive relief and awarded $3.2 million in attorney fees ( In...

PHILADELPHIA - Settlements involving a reverse payment from a name-brand manufacturer to a generic challenger to delay the entry date for marketing a generic drug are subject to the rule-of-reason test and not the scope-of-the-patent test, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled July 16, saying...

PHILADELPHIA - Experts proffered to opine on whether a reasonable petitioner could realistically expect a citizen petition to succeed on its merits and on causation will be allowed to testify, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled July 23 in lawsuits brought by purchasers of Flonase and a manufacturer...

PHILADELPHIA - Biovail Corp., the manufacturer of the prescription antidepressant drug Wellbutrin XL, reached a $37.5 million settlement on July 23 with direct purchasers who claimed that Biovail illegally conspired to prevent generic versions of the drug from entering the American market by filing sham...

PHOENIX - An Arizona federal judge on July 31 certified a national class of people who bought stock in Matrixx Initiatives Inc. from Dec. 22, 2007, and June 15, 2009, and allegedly saw their stock price drop because the company failed to report 800 cases of customers who lost their sense of smell (anosmia...

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A Minnesota federal judge has dismissed a putative consumer fraud class action alleging that defective home plumbing leached lead into drinking water, saying Aug. 14 that although the company had engaged in a "bait and switch" regarding pipe it submitted for testing, the plaintiffs...

PHILADELPHIA - The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 17 denied drug makers' motion to stay the mandate pending the filing of a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case in which the appeals court ruled that settlements involving a reverse payment from a name...

PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Aug. 22 certified a class of direct purchasers of blood reagents on their claims that producers of blood reagents conspired to raise prices and allocate customers in violation of federal antitrust laws ( In re: Blood Reagents Antitrust Litigation , MDL...

NEW YORK - A New York federal judge on Sept. 17 certified a class of stockholders who claim that their share values dropped because Wyeth failed to disclose that its Pristiq menopause drug had serious cardiovascular and liver adverse effects (City of Livonia Employees' Retirement System v. Wyeth...

PHILADELPHIA - The Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing the budeprion XL multidistrict litigation on Sept. 20 denied a motion by the Texas attorney general to intervene in an approved class settlement of litigation involving the generic version of Wellbutrin XL antidepressant ( In Re: Budeprion XL Marketing...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Merck & Co. Inc. on Nov. 20 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review of both its challenge to a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling and the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in Federal Trade Commission v. Watson...

PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Jan. 14 granted preliminary approval to a $21.5 million cash settlement on third-party payers' (TPP) class claims that GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) engaged in a fraudulent scheme to extend patent protection for antidepressant drug Wellbutrin SR (In re...

SAN DIEGO - A federal judge in California on April 10 excluded some plaintiff expert testimony and granted summary judgment to Bayer defendants in a class action alleging that the companies made false and deceptive advertising claims regarding the prostate health benefits of its men's vitamins (David...

LOS ANGELES - Nobel Biocare Holding AG has agreed to settle a class action with American dentists who claim that they were financially harmed when a dental implant failed sooner than warranted, according to an April 15 motion for preliminary approval filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District...

PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on June 14 granted final approval to a $150 million cash settlement between Flonase manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) and a certified class of 33 direct purchasers on the direct purchasers' claims that GSK filed a series of sham citizen petitions...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 vacated the judgment of the Third Circuit in antitrust litigation involving the drug K-Dur and remanded for further consideration in light of its recent ruling in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc., et al., in which it held that reverse-payment...

SAN DIEGO - California purchasers of the antibiotic Cipro and third-party payers who reimbursed for California purchases of Cipro on July 11 asked a state court to grant preliminary approval to their $74 million cash settlement with Bayer Corp. and Bayer AG (collectively, Bayer) on claims that Bayer...

TRENTON, N.J. - Plaintiffs in a shareholder lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson on July 15 asked a New Jersey federal judge to preliminarily approve a $22.9 million settlement of allegations that the drug maker caused their stock value to drop after the company conducted a massive recall of over-the...

SAN FRANCISCO - Participants in eligible individual account plans (EIAPs) sponsored by a drug manufacturer sufficiently alleged that the plans' fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duty of care imposed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by retaining company stock in the plans when the...

WILMINGTON, Del. - The law firm that represented the Official Committee of Equity Security Interest Holders in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Rotech Healthcare Inc. on Dec. 13 moved for a protective order, contending that Rotech should not be permitted to depose members of the firm (In Re: Rotech Healthcare...