Digital Health & Technology
-
May 02, 2025
Boston Scientific, FDA Sued Over 'Unsafe' Spinal Implant
Boston Scientific evaded safety regulations to market a defective spinal cord stimulator and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rubber-stamped those alterations in an instance of "agency capture," according to a California federal lawsuit filed by a patient suffering from ongoing pain after the device was implanted.
-
May 01, 2025
DaVita Hit With Class Actions Over Ransomware Attack
DaVita Inc. is facing at least two proposed class actions over a data breach the kidney care provider announced in April, with current and former patients alleging Wednesday in Colorado federal court that data thieves have already engaged in identity theft and fraud while DaVita has yet to offer details.
-
May 01, 2025
US Tells Justices Telemedicine Case Isn't Ideal For Eligibility
The Justice Department is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a petition over the eligibility of telemedicine patents it's accused of infringing, but it said that if the petition is granted, it plans to argue the patents shouldn't have been invalidated as abstract.
-
May 01, 2025
Meet The Attys Helping Chiaro Seek Ch. 15 Recognition
British women's healthtech company Chiaro Technology Ltd. is relying on three attorneys from DLA Piper LLP as it seeks recognition of its insolvency in the United Kingdom by a Delaware bankruptcy court.
-
April 29, 2025
Eli Lilly Opens New Front Against Weight-Drug Compounders
Pharma giant Eli Lilly is taking a new tack in its efforts to protect its lucrative weight-loss drugs by raising allegations that telehealth competitors are engaged in illegal corporate practice of medicine.
-
April 24, 2025
4th Circ. Won't Rehear Health Data Access Order Challenge
The Fourth Circuit has declined an electronic medical records firm's request for the appellate court to rethink a panel's decision to dismiss its appeal of an order forcing the company to let a nursing data business access its patient information.
-
April 22, 2025
23andMe Has Received 'Significant Interest' In Ch. 11 Auction
Genetic testing company 23andMe has received significant interest in the Chapter 11 auction for its assets, its counsel told a Missouri bankruptcy judge Tuesday at a hearing where it received final approval of a $35 million financing package to fund its bankruptcy case.
-
April 21, 2025
Dental Practices Say Ex-Contractor Holding Websites Hostage
A group of pediatric dental practices in North Carolina have accused their longtime business consultant of "hijacking" several website domains after they canceled his contract, saying he's trying to use the domains as leverage in unrelated negotiations.
-
April 17, 2025
Planned Parenthood Patients Sue Lab Co. Over Data Breach
A Washington state-based diagnostic testing services provider for Planned Parenthood has been hit with a pair of proposed class actions in Seattle federal court over an October data breach that reportedly impacted as many as 1.6 million people.
-
April 17, 2025
9th Circ. Revives Defect Suit Against CR Bard Over Clot Filter
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a patient's allegations that C.R. Bard's blood clot-preventing IVC filter was defective, ruling that a lower court was wrong to throw out the suit as untimely since there are factual disputes as to when the patient noticed the filter had malfunctioned.
-
April 16, 2025
Blue Shield Of California Sued Over Google's Patient Data Use
Blue Shield of California was slapped with a putative class action in California state court Monday, days after the health insurer announced that the personal data of some of its patients had been "impermissibly" shared due to its use of Google Analytics on its websites.
-
April 15, 2025
Pharma Tech Firm Hit With Class Claims Over Data Breach
Pharmacy technology company CPS Solutions LLC allegedly failed to implement "basic data security practices" like encrypting patient information before a cybercriminal got into its email system in December, according to a new proposed class action filed in Ohio federal court.
-
April 15, 2025
Former In-House Health Atty Joins Pierson Ferdinand
Ben Hefflinger, a new healthcare partner at Pierson Ferdinand, talks to Law360 about the move from an in-house role to private practice at an "awesome intersection" for digital health.
-
April 15, 2025
Will Trump Admin. 'Wash Its Hands' Of FDA Lab-Test Rule?
A federal court decision that laboratory-developed tests fall outside the FDA's oversight puts the Trump administration at a juncture where it will have to decide how — or whether — to argue for expanded agency authority. Many expect Trump officials to take a pass.
-
April 14, 2025
Juul Seeks Ax of Noncompliant Plaintiffs In E-Cig Suits
Juul on Monday asked a California federal judge to toss claims brought by plaintiffs who failed to comply with court orders, about two years after Juul reached a $255 million global settlement in the litigation.
-
April 14, 2025
Women's Healthtech Co. Chiaro Files Ch. 15 In Delaware
British women's healthtech company Chiaro Technology Ltd. has filed for Chapter 15 recognition in Delaware bankruptcy court, seeking acknowledgment of an insolvency proceeding in the United Kingdom through which it aims to manage its American assets while pursuing a sale to a competitor.
-
April 11, 2025
Dentsply Brass Face Investor Suit Over Alleged Dental Injuries
Executives and directors of dental supply manufacturing company Dentsply Sirona Inc. have been hit with a derivative suit alleging they concealed that a company subsidiary was approving unsuitable patients for dental treatments to inflate sales figures.
-
April 11, 2025
Telehealth Co. Sued Over 2024 Data Breach
A company that helps healthcare providers manage after-hours patient calls was hit with a proposed class action in New York federal court Friday alleging that it failed to secure user data prior to a 2024 breach that exposed the sensitive information of nearly 1 million people.
-
April 09, 2025
23andMe Asks For Independent Customer Data Rep In Ch. 11
Genetic testing company 23andMe asked a Missouri bankruptcy judge to let it appoint an independent customer data representative as it looks to sell genetic data of 15 million users at a Chapter 11 auction.
-
April 07, 2025
Fla. Man Pleads Guilty In $8.4M Medicare ID Fraud Case
A Fort Lauderdale man has pled guilty in Florida federal court to criminal charges accusing him of illegally buying Medicare identification numbers and using those numbers to help submit $8.4 million in false Medicare claims.
-
April 03, 2025
Hospital Group Urges 4th Circ. To Undo Data Access Order
Industry groups representing hospitals and health data companies have urged the Fourth Circuit to rethink its panel's dismissal of an appeal over an order forcing an electronic medical records company to let a nursing data company access patients' information, saying the order creates a financial burden on the healthcare system.
-
April 02, 2025
Congress Demands VA Update Health Record System Costs
A bipartisan group of congressional leaders has sent a letter demanding that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs update its schedule and cost estimate for its problem-ridden, multibillion-dollar electronic health record modernization program, just as the VA announced it would roll out the system to nine additional sites in 2026.
-
April 02, 2025
Zoll Gets Parts Of Data Breach Class Action Tossed
A Massachusetts federal judge released Zoll Medical Corp. from some claims brought by a proposed class of medical device customers whose personal data was released after two ransomware attacks, but kept alive claims of negligence, unjust enrichment and others.
-
April 02, 2025
Orthodontic Software Co. Hit With Data Breach Class Action
An orthodontic software company has been hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court over a November data breach in which the names, birth dates, medical records, insurance information, payment card data and Social Security numbers of its clients' patients were stolen by hackers.
-
April 01, 2025
The Loss For Litigants In Federal LGBTQ Data Rollback
Brad Sears of UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute talks about the fight to expand LGBTQ representation in federal datasets and the threat to litigants if surveys capturing the information are stopped amid a Trump administration purge.
Expert Analysis
-
It's Time To Prescribe Frameworks For AI-Driven Health Care
As health care providers begin to adopt artificial intelligence in clinical settings, new legal and regulatory challenges are emerging, with the critical issue being balancing AI's benefits and innovations in health care while ensuring patient safety and provider accountability, say attorneys at Kirkland.
-
FDA Proposals Clarify Rules For Devices With Predicates
As medical devices continue to grow in complexity, U.S. Food and Drug Administration policies surrounding premarket submissions for devices with existing predicates have fallen behind, but new draft guidances from the agency help fill in some gaps, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.
-
How Int'l Regulatory Collabs Can Expedite Pharma Approvals
Recent announcements highlight the growing importance of international regulatory collaboration for drug approval, which can greatly streamline the process for companies seeking to market their drugs in other countries, say Geneviève Michaux and Christina Markus at King & Spalding.
-
Why Standing Analysis Is Key In Data Breach Mediation
Amid a growing wave of data breach class action litigation, recent legal developments show shifting criteria for Article III standing based on an increased risk of future identity theft, meaning parties must integrate assessments of standing into mediation discussions to substantiate their settlement demands in data breach class actions, says Abe Melamed at Signature Resolution.
-
2 New Ways FDA Is Changing Lab-Developed Test Regulation
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently announced rulemaking and voluntary pilot program signal the agency's dedication to ramping up oversight of lab-developed tests, which have been largely unregulated by the FDA until now, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
FDA's Lab-Developed Test Rule Faces High Hurdles
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently announced plans to explicitly regulate lab-developed tests will likely face resistance from industry stakeholders and congressional actions, and lead to significant litigation, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.
-
FDA's Drug Software Draft Guidance Raises New Questions
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's long-awaited draft guidance regarding regulatory considerations for prescription drug use-related software functions as an informative starting point for developers, but many new and lingering questions must be answered before the regulatory limbo is resolved, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
-
A Topic-Based Analysis Of FDA Responses To FOIA Requests
By using a topic modeling method, it's possible to discern the major recurring topics in Freedom of Information Act requests made to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the likelihood of success for individual topics, says Bradley Thompson at Epstein Becker.
-
State Privacy Laws: Not As Comprehensive As You May Think
As more U.S. states enact privacy laws, companies must be aware that these laws vary in scope and content, meaning organizations should take a stringent approach to compliance by considering notice, choice and data security obligations, among other requirements, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
-
Concerns For 510(k) Sponsors After FDA Proposes Major Shift
While there may be public health benefits from modernizing the 510(k) process for clearing medical devices, recent draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health leaves meaningful open questions about the legal and regulatory implications of the new approach, and potential practical challenges, say attorneys at Covington.
-
Address The Data Monopoly, Otherwise Tech Giants Control AI
It is likely that we will experience a severe monopoly on artificial intelligence systems and patents by the largest players in the tech industry, so the way we treat data needs to change, whether through the legislature, the courts or tech companies, says Pranav Katti at Barclay Damon.
-
Companies Must Dig Up Old Laws To Stay Privacy-Compliant
Despite the recent focus on new privacy and data security laws, companies cannot ignore existing rules that have recently been revived, amended or reinterpreted to address emerging privacy and data security challenges, says Julia Kadish at Sheppard Mullin.
-
8 Ways Life Sciences Cos. Can Adapt To The Social Media Era
As pharmaceutical and medical device companies harness the powerful promotion potential of social media, they must navigate legal, regulatory and reputational risks that can be particularly challenging due to the complex framework of rules that apply to the life sciences industry, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.