As noted in our blog post last week, FDA has issued several guidance documents authorizing the emergency use of medical devices and drugs to address the COVID-19 outbreak. These EUAs provide a streamlined approach for selling otherwise unapproved products intended to alleviate the national emergency. …
What do you get when you “cross an approach to discovery à la Inspector Clouseau with a corporate lawyer caricature found in cartoon caption contests?” According to Judge Steven Rau of the District of Minnesota in a 32-page order that required an “exhaustive” 15-page factual …
In a decision that could dramatically change the course of how defendants conduct discussions with the government, a district court judge in the District of Minnesota required a defendant in a False Claims Act (FCA) case to turn over to a qui tam relator the …
Companies challenging FDA in court typically face a steep uphill battle given the long-standing doctrine known as Auer deference, which (in simplified terms) requires courts to defer to FDA’s interpretation of its own regulations if they are ambiguous. The recent Supreme Court ruling in Kisor …
In the August 21 split panel decision issued in Federal Trade Commission v. Credit Bureau Center LLC, the Seventh Circuit held that section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTCA”), 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), does not authorize an award of restitution. In overturning its …
This case caught our eye for a few reasons, none of which directly relates to the business activities of most of our blog readers but may relate to their happy-hours activities. As most know, FDA regulates foods, including beverages, but Congress delegated most of the …
Today’s blog post illustrates how a company’s problems can escalate rapidly from an administrative warning letter to the full weight of the criminal system. The unfortunate subject is ACell, a manufacturer of medical devices derived from porcine urinary bladder material. ACell received a Warning Letter …
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the lower courts’ decision to publicly disclose commercial information that previously had been submitted to the government. Given that FDA-regulated entities often submit to FDA commercial or financial information that those entities regard as …
The government lost a significant battle in its aggressive prosecutions of individuals involved in the New England Compounding Center (NECC) disaster, in which the vilified, and now-defunct, NECC “compounded” contaminated batches of drugs that led to a multitude of deaths and injuries. Gregory Conigliaro, a …
A recent decision out of Pennsylvania caught our eye, not because it applied a new enforcement strategy by FDA, but to the contrary, because it relied on FDA’s “oldie but goodie” Inspection Warrant authority. Not a search warrant, which is subject to the same “probable …
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has been touting for years the common interest that government and industry share in promoting an ethical corporate culture. This week, DOJ reinforced the importance of a robust, well-designed, and effective corporate compliance program in DOJ’s determination of whether to …
As it previewed back in December, the government formally filed its motion to dismiss the high-profile False Claims Act case against Gilead Sciences, Inc. This case has had a long history, beginning in 2010 when the Relators filed their original complaint. After investigation, in 2013, …
We have long posted about the government’s threats to hold individuals liable for actions taken on behalf of their companies, for example here, but these actions remain rare and typically are reserved for egregious, repeated, and intentional criminality. A recent indictment against two former executives, …
Drug and device manufacturers that sell FDA-approved products reimbursed by the federal government should stay abreast of the pending Supreme Court petition in United States ex rel. Campie v. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (the factual and procedural background is summarized here and here). In short, the …
Duodenoscopes are flexible, lighted tubes that are threaded through the body into the top of the small intestine (duodenum) and allow doctors to see potential problems in the pancreas and bile ducts. Because duodenoscopes are reusable devices, they must be reprocessed (cleaned) after each use …
