Drug & Device News

Pfizer Seeks MDL for Zoloft Suits

Pfizer Inc., seeking an alternative forum to Pennsylvania's state courts, moved on Jan. 11 to have almost 50 cases that have been removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL). The pharmaceuticals manufacturer named the Southern District of New York as its first choice of an MDL forum, citing the facts that the company is headquartered there and the Southern District has extensive experience in handling MDLs. It also pointed out that the plaintiffs, who claim their children suffered birth injuries because they took Pfizer-manufactured Zoloft during pregnancy, are domiciled all over the United States and can easily get to New York by way of its three international airports.

Feds Put More Pressure on State-Sanctioned Medical Pot Dispensaries

On Jan. 18, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California filed four new asset forfeiture lawsuits against landlords in Los Angeles and Orange Counties who rent space to medical marijuana dispensaries. These actions continue the federal government's efforts to discourage medical marijuana access in jurisdictions where state law permits the sale and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Since California's physicians were first permitted by the 1996 passage of the Compassionate Use Act to prescribe marijuana to their patients, conflicts between the state system and federal system (which continues to outlaw the possession, sale and use of marijuana) have brewed, with mixed signals coming from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
In October of last year, however, the DOJ stepped up the pressure, announcing that it would begin cracking down on allegedly legal cannabis dispensaries; these forfeiture actions against property owners are a part of that campaign.

Suit Says Company Hid Dangers of Darvon and
Darvocet

Kevin Hart, of the Princeton, NJ, firm of Stark and Stark, has filed several suits against Eli Lilly & Co. on behalf of plaintiffs who say the drug manufacturer hid the dangers to cardiovascular health of their pain medications Darvon and Darvocet. The plaintiffs, from far-flung states that include California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, assert that the drugs' active ingredient, propoxyphene, is only marginally effective as a pain reliever, so that its benefits were far outweighed by the cardiovascular risks. They also claim that, after the FDA declined to withdraw the drugs from the market on Eli Lilly's promise to better educate doctors and patients, the company instead used its educational program to market Darvon and Darvocet. The drugs were taken off the market in 2010.

Pfizer Seeks MDL for Zoloft Suits

Pfizer Inc., seeking an alternative forum to Pennsylvania's state courts, moved on Jan. 11 to have almost 50 cases that have been removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL). The pharmaceuticals manufacturer named the Southern District of New York as its first choice of an MDL forum, citing the facts that the company is headquartered there and the Southern District has extensive experience in handling MDLs. It also pointed out that the plaintiffs, who claim their children suffered birth injuries because they took Pfizer-manufactured Zoloft during pregnancy, are domiciled all over the United States and can easily get to New York by way of its three international airports.

Feds Put More Pressure on State-Sanctioned Medical Pot Dispensaries

On Jan. 18, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California filed four new asset forfeiture lawsuits against landlords in Los Angeles and Orange Counties who rent space to medical marijuana dispensaries. These actions continue the federal government's efforts to discourage medical marijuana access in jurisdictions where state law permits the sale and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Since California's physicians were first permitted by the 1996 passage of the Compassionate Use Act to prescribe marijuana to their patients, conflicts between the state system and federal system (which continues to outlaw the possession, sale and use of marijuana) have brewed, with mixed signals coming from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
In October of last year, however, the DOJ stepped up the pressure, announcing that it would begin cracking down on allegedly legal cannabis dispensaries; these forfeiture actions against property owners are a part of that campaign.

Suit Says Company Hid Dangers of Darvon and
Darvocet

Kevin Hart, of the Princeton, NJ, firm of Stark and Stark, has filed several suits against Eli Lilly & Co. on behalf of plaintiffs who say the drug manufacturer hid the dangers to cardiovascular health of their pain medications Darvon and Darvocet. The plaintiffs, from far-flung states that include California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, assert that the drugs' active ingredient, propoxyphene, is only marginally effective as a pain reliever, so that its benefits were far outweighed by the cardiovascular risks. They also claim that, after the FDA declined to withdraw the drugs from the market on Eli Lilly's promise to better educate doctors and patients, the company instead used its educational program to market Darvon and Darvocet. The drugs were taken off the market in 2010.