http://www.lexisnexis.com/mealeys/news.aspx Headline Emerging Drugs & Devices Legal News from LexisNexis® en-us http://www.lexisnexis.com/mealeys/images/lexismealeyslogo.gif 130 29 http://www.lexisnexis.com/mealeys/news.aspx Copyright 2020 http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%201%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' SAN DIEGO - A California state court judge on Jan. 30 ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Ethicon Inc. to pay civil penalties of $343.99 million for deceptively marketing pelvic mesh devices in violation of California's unfair competition law (UCL) in a way that was likely to deceive doctors and consumers about the "risks and dangers" of the products (California v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., No. 37-2016-00017229-CU-MC-CTL, Calif. Super., San Diego Co., Central Branch). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%202%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' MIAMI - A Florida federal court jury on Jan. 21 quickly found after a 12-day trial that a pelvic mesh device made by Ethicon Inc. was not defectively or negligently designed (Charlotte Salinero, et al. v. Ethicon, Inc., No. 18-23643, S.D. Fla., Miami Div.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%203%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' Electronic health records technology company Practice Fusion Inc. has agreed to pay $145 million to resolve federal criminal and civil investigations into its receipt of a $1 million kickback from an unidentified opioid manufacturer and "sponsorships" payments by 13 other drug companies for the submission of false claims to federal health care programs, the U.S. Justice Department announced Jan. 27 (United States v. Practice Fusion, Inc., No. 20-cr-11, D. Vt.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%204%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - Patient Services Inc. agreed to pay $3 million to resolve allegations by the U.S. Justice Department that it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b), by funneling money from three drug manufacturers to pay patient drug co-pays, the federal government announced Jan. 21. http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%205%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' BOSTON - The founder and former chairman of opioid maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. on Jan. 23 was sentenced to 66 months in prison for racketeering in connection with a kickback and insurance fraud scheme to sell Subsys, a fentanyl-based pain drug, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts said in a press release (United States v. Michael Babich, et al., No. 16-cr-10343, D. Mass.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%206%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' CLEVELAND - The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation on Jan. 27 denied summary judgment motions filed by five pharmacy defendants on claims of civil conspiracy to divert opioids and creating an absolute public nuisance from the opioid addiction epidemic (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL Docket No. 17-2804, N.D. Ohio, E. Div.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%207%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' CINCINNATI - Six pharmacy chains on Jan. 22 filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that seeks to block the opioid multidistrict litigation court from forcing them to disclose "transaction level" prescription order data (In Re: CVS Pharmacy, Inc., No. 20-3075, 6th Cir.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%208%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' OAKLAND, Calif. - A federal judge in California granted preliminary approval of a $175 million shareholder derivative action settlement against opioid drug distributor McKesson Corp. brought by investors who alleged that several of the company's current and former senior officers and directors failed to conduct the necessary oversight of opioid drug sales, even after the company twice had been hit with fines for previous compliance failures, according to a press release issued by co-lead counsel on Jan. 24 (In re McKesson Corp. Derivative Litigation, No. 17-1850, N.D. Calif.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%209%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' SAN FRANCISCO - The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 28 affirmed summary judgment in a Medtronic Inc. drug pump case, saying that the plaintiff's claims are preempted and that she did not plausibly allege that the defendant failed to report adverse events to the Food and Drug Administration (Rebeca Lawrence v. Medtronic, Inc., No. 18-55621, 9th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 2921). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2010%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' SAN FRANCISCO - On a 2-1 vote, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 7 affirmed dismissal of woman's claim that an antidepressant drug caused her to try to murder her former husband (Laura Wenke v. Forest Laboratories, Inc., No. 18-15936, 9th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 592). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2011%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A California federal judge on Jan. 27 denied the United States' motion for summary judgment against a stem cell clinic, saying the issue of whether the use of a patient's stem cells violates the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S. Code § 301, et seq., is a question of fact for a jury to resolve (United States v. California Stem Cell Treatment Center, Inc., et al., No. 18-1005, C.D. Calif.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2012%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' NEW YORK - The Federal Trade Commission and the New York attorney general on Jan. 27 sued "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli and the drug companies he allegedly continues to run from his federal prison cell for violating federal and state antitrust laws by blocking generic competition for the drug Daraprim (Federal Trade Commission, et al. v. Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, et al., No. 20-cv-706, S.D. N.Y.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2013%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' PHILADELPHIA - A former vice president at a New York generic drug manufacturer was indicted Feb. 4 for making a false statement and violating the federal antitrust law by conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers (United States v. Ara Aprahamian, No. 20-cr-64, E.D. Pa.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2014%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' SAN FRANCISCO - A shareholder sued a biopharmaceutical company and its CEO in California federal court on Jan. 23, alleging that the defendants concealed negative clinical trial results for the company's bone marrow cancer treatment drug in violation of federal securities laws (Michael Tollen v. Geron Corp., et al., No. 20-547, N.D. Calif.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-3%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2015%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' Abilify http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%201%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' PHILADELPHIA - A Pennsylvania state court judge on Jan. 17 granted remittitur of an $8 billion Risperdal gynecomastia punitive damage verdict to $6.8 million (Nicholas Murray v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 130401990, Pa. Comm. Pls., Philadelphia Co.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%202%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' JERSEY CITY, N.J. - A New Jersey state appeals court on Jan. 17 affirmed the exclusion of two plaintiff experts opinions for "methodological defects," a ruling that the trial court applied to 3,231 other cases alleging that the acne drug Accutane caused plaintiffs to develop inflammatory bowel disease (In Re: Accutane Litigation, No. A-4952-16T1, N.J. Super., App. Div., 2020 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 123). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%203%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana federal judge overseeing the Cook inferior vena cava (IVC) filter multidistrict litigation on Jan. 6 granted defendant Cook Medical Inc.'s motion for a new trial in a bellwether trial after agreeing that internal Cook emails about problems with IVC filters were not germane to the device at issue, were hearsay and were prejudicial (In Re: Cook Medical Inc. IVC Filters [Tonya Brand], Nos. 14-14-mdl-2570 and 14-6018, S.D. Ind., Indianapolis Div., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8893). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%204%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - Apnea device maker ResMed Corp. has agreed to pay more than $37.5 million to resolve five false claims lawsuits that it paid kickbacks to get suppliers and health care providers to buy its medical devices, the U.S. Justice Department announced Jan. 15 (United States, ex rel. Gibran Ameer v. ResMed, Inc., No. 15-4842, D. S.C.; United States ex rel. Thomas Baker v. ResMed, Inc., No. 16-987, D. S.C.; United States ex rel. Shawn Ross v. ResMed, Inc., No. 16-1988, S.D. Calif.; United States ex rel. Meyer v. ResMed, Inc., et al., No. 17-12, D. Iowa; United States ex rel. Peter Ottavio v. ResMed, Inc., No. 17-5734, E.D. N.Y.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%205%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' CHICAGO - The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 14 affirmed a reduced a pelvic mesh plaintiff's $20 million verdict, turning aside Ethicon Inc.'s arguments that the claim is preempted by federal law and that Indiana's product liability law required the plaintiff to prove that there was a safer alternative design to the device (Barbara Kaiser v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., No. 18-2944, 7th Cir.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%206%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Common Benefit Fee and Cost Committee for seven pelvic mesh multidistrict litigations in a Jan. 21 brief tells the U.S. Supreme Court that it should reject a petition for certiorari filed by the Anderson Law Offices and Benjamin H. Anderson because the petitioners "knowingly and voluntarily" waived their right to appeal common benefit fee decisions, including to the Supreme Court (Anderson Law Offices, et al. v. Common Benefit Fee and Cost Committee, No. 19-791, U.S. Sup.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%207%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' DUBLIN, Ireland - Endo International PLC on Jan. 10 signed an agreement to settle the state of Oklahoma's opioid investigation for $8.75 million. http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%208%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' BOSTON - The first of seven Insys Therapeutics Inc. defendants was sentenced Jan. 13 to 33 months in federal prison and for his conviction for racketeering, fraud and paying doctors kickbacks to prescribe his employer's opioid drug Subsys (United States v. Michael J. Gurry, et al., No. 16-cr-10343, D. Mass.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%209%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' BOSTON - Two former executives of opioid maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. were sentenced Jan. 21 to 33 months and 27 months in prison for their convictions on federal mail and wire fraud charges in connection with bribery of doctors to prescribe the drug Subsys (United States v. Michael L. Babich, et al., No. 16-cr-10343, D. Mass.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2010%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WILMINGTON, Del. - A federal bankruptcy judge on Jan. 16 confirmed a plan of liquidation of former opioid maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. that creates two trusts, cancels all shares of common stock and calls for the dissolution of the company (In Re: Insys Therapeutics, Inc., et al., No. 19-11292, D. Del. Bkcy.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2011%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 10 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the Arkansas attorney general, who argues that the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it found that a state law regulating drug reimbursement rates for pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) is preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Leslie Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, No. 18-540, U.S. Sup.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2012%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' SAN FRANCISCO - The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 16 said plaintiffs claiming to suffer withdrawal symptoms from the antidepressant Cymbalta cannot reopen their case after they voluntarily dismissed the case in a now-banned tactic to get appellate review of adverse lower court rulings (Melissa Strafford, et al. v. Eli Lilly and Company, No. 18-56064, 9th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 1717). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2013%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' SAN FRANCISCO - The California federal judge overseeing the Viagra/Cialis melanoma multidistrict litigation on Jan. 13 allowed plaintiffs to present expert testimony that it is biologically plausible for the erectile dysfunction drugs to cause progression of melanoma, but he granted a defendants' motion to exclude opinions on general causation (In Re: Viagra and Cialis Products Liability Litigation, No. 16-md-2691, N.D. Calif., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7216). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2014%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on Dec. 18 centralized 29 federal lawsuits alleging injury from Allergan Inc.'s Biocell textures breast implant into a multidistrict litigation and assigned it to Judge Brian R. Martinotti of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (In Re: Allergan Biocell Textured Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2921, JPML, No. 19-md-2921, D. N.J.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-2%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2015%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' Abilify http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%201%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' INDIANAPOLIS - An Indiana appeals court on Dec. 31 affirmed that under state law, plaintiffs' claims involving the Essure birth control device made by Bayer Corp. are not preempted by federal law (Bayer Corporation, et al. v. Rene Leach, et al., No. 19A-CT-625, Ind. App., 1st Dist., 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 583). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%202%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' NEW YORK - Plaintiffs' counsel on Jan. 6 said in a press release that Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay $54 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging that the drug maker paid bogus speaker fees to doctors to induce them to prescribe drugs for Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis (United States ex rel. Charles Arnstein, et al. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., et al., No. 13-3703, S.D. N.Y.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%203%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' BOSTON - Eight former employees of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. have agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that they caused the filing of false claims by marketing a cholesterol drug for off-label use, according to a stipulation of settlement filed Dec. 19 in federal court in Massachusetts (United States, ex rel. Michele Clark, et al. v. Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 13-11785, D. Mass.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%204%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' BOSTON - The last two defendants to be tried in the New England Compounding Center (NECC) criminal case were sentenced Dec. 19 and 20 to probation (United States v. Kathy S. Chin, et al., No. 14-10363, D. Mass.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%205%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on Dec. 18 expanded the valsartan multidistrict litigation to include losartan and irbesartan, all high blood pressure drugs allegedly containing N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a potential carcinogen (In Re: Valsartan, Losartan and Irbesartan Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2875, JPMDL). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%206%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WILMINGTON, Del. - A federal bankruptcy trustee and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 6 objected to how a proposed liquidation plan for opioid maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. treats stockholders who will be left with worthless shares of the company (In Re: Insys Therapeutics, Inc., et al., No. 19-11292, D. Del. Bkcy.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%207%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' BOSTON - The former CEO of opioid drug maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. on Dec. 31 told a Massachusetts federal judge that his largest "tainted" asset that is available for forfeiture to the U.S. government is his stock in his former company and that that stock now has the value of a penny stock after the government's indictment of him and other executives and a multimillion-dollar civil settlement forced the company into bankruptcy (United States v. John N. Kapoor, et al., No. 16-cr-10343, D. Mass.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%208%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' CINCINNATI - The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 18 denied a petition for an en banc rehearing of an appeal by two women who sought to enjoin opioid manufacturers from dispensing their drugs to women without first being shown a negative pregnancy test (Amanda Hanlon, et al. v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., No. 19-3398, 6th Cir.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%209%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Dec. 26 granted a motion by Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. to retain jurisdiction over the drug companies' appeal of a $465 million opioid judgment (Oklahoma, et al. v. Purdue Pharma, et al., No. 118474, Okla. Sup.). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2010%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A Rhode Island state court judge presiding over the state's opioid lawsuit on Dec. 20 allowed the state to file an amended complaint adding generic drug subsidiaries of Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., saying Teva would not be prejudiced by expanding the list of defendants (Rhode Island, et al. v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., No. PC-2018-4555, R.I. Super., Providence, 2019 R.I Super. LEXIS 135). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2011%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Florida federal judge overseeing the Abilify multidistrict litigation on Dec. 21 approved a payment of $18,810,595 in reimbursement, common benefit expenses and fees (In Re: Abilify [Aripiprazole] Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2734, No. 16-md-2734, N.D. Fla., Pensacola Div., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 219530). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2012%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Dec. 19 announced that it will hear arguments on Jan. 30 on whether to centralize 15 federal lawsuits alleging injuries and economic loss from the over-the-counter heartburn drug Zantac (In Re: Zantac [Ranitidine] Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2924, JPMDL). http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?canceldest=form&keyenum=25271&keytnum=0&searchtype=get&search=25-1%20Mealey%27s%20Emerg.%20Drugs%20Devices%2013%20(2020)&view=full&ORIGINATION_CODE=00144 target='_blank' Abilify