Justia Drugs & Biotech Opinion Summaries

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's complaint alleging that she used defendants' prescription chemotherapy drug and now suffers from permanent hair loss. As a plaintiff in this multidistrict litigation (MDL), plaintiff was required to serve defendants with a completed fact sheet disclosing details of her personal and medical history soon after filing her short form complaint. She failed to do so in this case.The court applied the Deepwater Horizon two-factor test to the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's case and held that the district court was not required to make specific factual findings on each of the Deepwater Horizon prongs before dismissing plaintiff's case. The court explained that plaintiff exhibited a clear record of delay sufficient to meet the first prong in the Deepwater Horizon test, and lesser sanctions would not have served the best interests of justice. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion for reconsideration. View "Kuykendall v. Accord Healthcare, Inc." on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence for methamphetamine-related offenses. The court held that the district court did not clearly err by denying a mitigating-role adjustment under USSG 3B1.2 where defendant certainly understood that she was illegally transporting contraband into the United States and that she was being paid for her participation. The court also held that the district court did not impermissibly rely on her integral role to the exclusion of all else, and remand was not warranted where the district court need not weigh each USSG 3B1.2 factor on the record. View "United States v. Bello-Sanchez" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Solvay on relators' False Claims Act (FCA) claims. The court held that relators failed to produce sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment on any of their briefed claims where the public disclosure bar applied to relators' AndroGel claims; at bottom, the probative value of relators' off-label marketing causation evidence was primarily based on conjecture and speculation and was insufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact for trial; and summary judgment was appropriate as to relators' claim that Solvay unduly influenced P&T committees to place Solvay's drugs on preferred drug lists and as to relators' FCA retaliation claims. Finally, the court affirmed the district court's ruling that partly granted court costs to Solvay. View "King v. Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc." on Justia Law