Be careful who you’re doing business with. That’s the warning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sent this week to multinational drug and device companies doing business in terrorist hot spots around the world. Reversing a lower court, the D.C. Circuit cleared the way Jan. 4 for 21 drug and device companies to potentially be held accountable for doing business with Jaysh al-Mahdi terrorists, operating through the Iraqi Ministry of Health, who injured or killed hundreds of U.S. troops and civilians in Iraq.
A split decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit could give Novartis AG’s blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug, Gilenya (fingolimod), a little more breathing room from unlicensed generics.
With licensed Humira (adalimumab) biosimilar competition a little more than a year away in the U.S., Abbvie Inc. is trying to fend off competitors that have not signed an agreement with the North Chicago-based company.
Biopharma scored a victory of sorts in the ongoing 340B war that’s pitting drug companies against the combined forces of hospital groups, contract pharmacies and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH is the latest drug company to come into the crosshairs of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration over its restrictions on giving 340B drug discounts to contract pharmacies.
In the latest skirmish over who can get the 340B discounts on prescription drugs that are supposed to help qualifying U.S. providers offer charity care, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is challenging a recently passed Arkansas law that seeks to regulate drug manufacturers’ participation in the federal drug pricing program.
In a passionately worded 141-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said the lower court was wrong in overturning part of a jury verdict convicting former Insys Therapeutics Inc. executives of a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe Subsys (fentanyl), which was approved only to treat breakthrough cancer pain.
Citing a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability to seek restitution or disgorgement, the FTC, on July 30, withdrew its remaining count against Abbvie Inc. involving sham litigation intended to delay generic competition to its blockbuster testosterone replacement drug, Androgel.
A proposed $26 billion global settlement could end the state-by-state opioid litigation in the U.S. for Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and three drug distributors. The attorneys general from several states announced the proposed agreement July 21 with J&J, Amerisource Bergen Drug Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp.
