Led by the American Academy of Pediatrics, several medical groups went to court July 7 to force Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy to restore the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and healthy children ages 6 months to 17 years.
Finding they were “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act, the District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a White House Office of Personnel Management memo and a subsequent Department of Health and Human Services’ guidance intended to implement President Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive order pertaining to gender ideology.
Without using the words “universal” or “nationwide,” a U.S. district judge granted a preliminary injunction July 1 to stop the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) reorganization plan, along with any workforce reduction that’s part of the plan.
Weighing in on the marketing exclusivity provided by the Orphan Drug Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the FDA didn’t act beyond its statutory authority when it approved Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals plc’s narcolepsy drug, Lumryz, for marketing during the exclusivity period granted to Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc’s Xywav, even though both drugs contained the same active ingredient, sodium oxybate, and were approved for the same disease or condition.
Calling it “incredible news,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell reported June 16 that U.S. District Judge William Young ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for NIH research grants focusing on gender and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Moderna Inc. once again emerged the winner in a court skirmish over claims that its COVID-19 vaccine infringed two Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. patents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion May 4, agreeing with a federal district court in Delaware that Moderna didn’t infringe the patents. For both courts, the decision was based on a single issue of claim construction.
A court decision blocking President Donald Trump’s reciprocal and trafficking tariffs was hardly a day old before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stepped in late May 29 to grant a temporary stay while it considers the administration’s appeal. The stay adds further uncertainty to the path ahead for drug and device companies.
The U.S. Department of Justice arrested two men in connection with fraudulently billing the Medicare program for COVID-19 tests, some of which were billed for deceased beneficiaries. The case is notable for its use of foreign nationals recruited to set up non-existent labs to file the claims, seeming to signal a new front in efforts to corral Medicare fraud in the U.S.
A former board member of Chinook Therapeutics Inc. and four others were charged May 22 in a 19-count indictment stemming from an alleged insider trading scheme that produced more than $600,000 in profits after the June 2023 announcement that Novartis AG was acquiring the Seattle-based Chinook in a $3.5 billion deal.
Innovative Health LLC, of Scottsdale, Ariz., obtained a jury verdict of $147 million against Johnson & Johnson’s Biosense Webster unit for practices that thwarted the use of less costly reprocessed medical devices.