(Reuters)—Washington state on Thursday sued OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, becoming the latest state or local government to file a lawsuit seeking to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for a national opioid addiction epidemic. The city of Seattle also filed a separate lawsuit against Purdue as well as units of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Johnson and…
Pfizer Files Suit Against J and J over Remicade Contracts
(Reuters)—Drugmaker Pfizer Inc on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson, saying its rival’s contracts with health insurers for blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Remicade, were anticompetitive and blocked sales of Pfizer’s new biosimilar. Pfizer said in the suit that Johnson and Johnson is offering discounts on its Remicade treatment in exchange for essentially excluding…
U.S. FDA Panel Votes Against Approval of Arthritis Drug Sirukumab
(Reuters)—The benefits of Johnson and Johnson’s experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug sirukumab do not outweigh the risks, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Wednesday. The panel voted 12-1 that the drug should not be approved, citing safety concerns, including an imbalance in the number of deaths in patients taking sirukumab…
Missouri Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Joining Two other U.S. States
(Reuters)—Missouri on Wednesday became the third U.S. state to accuse major drug manufacturers of fraudulently misrepresenting the risks of opioid painkillers now at the center of a national addiction epidemic. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said his office filed a lawsuit in a state court in St. Louis against Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson and Johnson…
U.S. State Attorneys General Probe Opioid Drug Companies
(Reuters)—A bipartisan group of state attorneys general announced on Thursday that they are jointly investigating the marketing and sales practices of drug companies that manufacture opioid painkillers at the center of a national addiction epidemic. Attorneys general from states including Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania announced the investigation two weeks after Ohio Attorney General Mike…