Policy & Compliance
-
November 04, 2025
Gov't Subpoena Powers Face Reckoning In Healthcare Battles
The judicial deference given to the government's power to issue investigative subpoenas is facing an unprecedented challenge in transgender care cases. Willingness by judges to question motives could lead to more subpoena challenges or impede worthy government investigations.
-
November 04, 2025
Fed. Circ. Denies VA Surgeon's Wrongful Termination Appeal
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board's decision to uphold the firing of a general surgeon by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs after he raised concerns about compromised patient care.
-
November 04, 2025
9th Circ. Revives Ore. Right To Life Suit: 3 Things To Know
A divided Ninth Circuit panel sided with an Oregon anti-abortion group last week and reinstated its lawsuit challenging a state law that requires health plans to cover abortion and contraceptives.
-
November 04, 2025
HHS Watchdog Puts Failing Nursing Home Program On Blast
Hefty fines aren’t enough to turn around the nation's worst nursing homes, a government watchdog has concluded. The findings illustrate the need for new enforcement strategies that promote staffing and other improvements meant to last.
-
November 04, 2025
End Payors Seek $66M In Atty Fees In Generic Drug MDL
End payors in a generic drug price-fixing multidistrict litigation are seeking a Pennsylvania federal court's approval for a $66 million award of attorney fees, representing one-third of the $200 million settlement between the classes and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. and Taro Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.
-
November 03, 2025
Pharmacies Seek Cert. In Cholesterol Drug Price-Fixing MDL
A group of indirect reseller plaintiffs urged a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday to certify a nationwide class of thousands of pharmacies that indirectly purchased the cholesterol medication pravastatin in sprawling multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing in the generic drug industry.
-
November 03, 2025
FDA Official Quits As Aurinia Sues Over 'Personal Vendetta'
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals on Sunday launched a lawsuit accusing Dr. George Tidmarsh, who that same day resigned as head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's drug division, of falsely claiming the biotech's lupus nephritis drug doesn't work amid his "longstanding personal vendetta" against the company's board chair and investor.
-
November 03, 2025
Judge Denies New Trial In SuperValu Whistleblower Drug Case
An Illinois federal judge has refused to grant a new trial to whistleblowers who said grocery chain SuperValu systematically overbilled the government for prescription drugs, finding there was no issue with jury instructions on causation.
-
November 03, 2025
Colorado Judge Denies AbbVie's Bid To Block State Drug Law
A Colorado federal judge denied AbbVie Inc.'s bid for a preliminary injunction, which would have barred the state from enforcing its laws and penalties surrounding federal 340B drug pricing.
-
October 31, 2025
Drugmakers Can't End States' Dermatology Price-Fixing Suits
A Connecticut federal judge on Friday refused to throw out the vast majority of claims in a nationwide antitrust enforcement action accusing a long list of pharmaceutical companies of fixing the prices of generic dermatology drugs, rejecting the companies' argument that the claims were filed too late.
-
October 31, 2025
Amgen Again Challenges Colo. Price Cap For Arthritis Drug
Amgen has once again sued Colorado over its price cap for the arthritis drug Enbrel, claiming that the Centennial State's drug price-control statute violates the U.S. Constitution, conflicts with federal patent law and threatens patients' access to lifesaving medications.
-
October 31, 2025
Hawaii Judge Declares FDA's Mifepristone Regs Unlawful
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed to sufficiently justify restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone, a Hawaii federal judge ruled in an order declaring the restrictions unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act.
-
October 31, 2025
Aetna Strikes $650K Deal In Lipedema Patients' Coverage Suit
Aetna has agreed to pay up to $650,000 to resolve a class action claiming it unlawfully refused to cover liposuction for over two dozen patients with a rare condition called lipedema, according to a filing in California federal court.
-
October 31, 2025
Garnet Health Inks $4.6M Deal In Retirement Fee, Fund Suit
Garnet Health Medical Center has agreed to fork over $4.6 million to end a proposed class action alleging the New York healthcare network mismanaged employee retirement plan fees and investments, according to settlement documents filed by workers Friday in New York federal court.
-
October 31, 2025
3 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In Nov.
The Third Circuit will hear a union's appeal in a withdrawal liability battle, a union health plan defends its partial win in a coverage fight at the Ninth Circuit, and pharmacy benefit managers will take a challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's authority to the full Eighth Circuit. Here are three arguments to keep an eye on in November.
-
October 31, 2025
NC Attorney General, HCA Duel Over Merger Commitments
The North Carolina Attorney General's Office and HCA Healthcare have offered competing interpretations of a 2019 merger agreement in their efforts to secure a pretrial win in the state's compliance case involving the purchase of an Asheville hospital system.
-
October 30, 2025
J&J's Janssen Says 3rd Circ. Should Reverse $1.6B FCA Win
Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Products LP urged the Third Circuit to overturn a $1.6 billion False Claims Act judgment over two of its HIV drugs, arguing the district court allowed whistleblowers to prove fraud based solely on "off-label" marketing rather than any false claim actually submitted to the government.
-
October 30, 2025
Generic-Drug Firms Want To Fast-Track Conn. Price Cap Fight
An industry group for generic and biosimilar pharmaceutical companies has asked a Connecticut federal judge to fast-track its lawsuit seeking to block the state's new drug price cap, claiming it will suffer "imminent harm" if the case is delayed.
-
October 30, 2025
Judge Unpauses 'Important' Suit Over Vax Guidelines
A Massachusetts federal judge agreed Thursday to lift a government shutdown-related stay of litigation challenging new COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women, calling the case a "matter of national importance" that warrants keeping the case moving over the U.S. Department of Justice's objection.
-
October 30, 2025
Health Group Urges 1st Circ. To Deny FCA Suit Fee Challenge
A Massachusetts health network has asked the First Circuit to deny a whistleblower's attempt to secure more attorney fees for a False Claims Act suit, arguing that a federal judge properly denied numerous claims for fees after a $2.5 million settlement.
-
October 30, 2025
Surgical Co. Gets Tobacco Fee ERISA Suit Kicked To Texas
A proposed class action alleging that a surgical center operator discriminated against workers who use tobacco by making them pay more for health coverage belongs in Texas, a Kentucky federal judge said, ruling that the business doesn't have enough connection to Kentucky.
-
October 29, 2025
DOJ Subpoena Called 'Pressure' To Ax Gender-Affirming Care
The U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena to intimidate a telehealth organization into ending gender-affirming medical care, a Seattle federal judge said in a ruling that found the agency is using the guise of an investigation to further the Trump administration's stated goal of eliminating transgender and gender-diverse patients' access to healthcare.
-
October 29, 2025
Healthcare Workers Trade HCA For Subsidiaries In Wage Deal
A respiratory therapist has reached a tentative deal in a proposed collective action against a healthcare facility operator accused of manipulating workers' time sheets to pay them less overtime wages, North Carolina federal court records show.
-
October 29, 2025
FDA Unveils Plan To Speed Biosimilar Drugs To Market
The Trump administration on Wednesday said it plans to slash the cost of biologics by shortening the time required to bring a biosimilar drug to market and making it easier for patients to switch to the cheaper products.
-
October 29, 2025
3 Pharmaceutical Firms Will Pay $4M To Tribes In Opioid MDL
Indivior, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Zydus Pharmaceuticals have inked deals to compensate tribes for their role in the opioid crisis, according to stipulated dismissals entered on Wednesday in Ohio federal court.
Expert Analysis
-
The Future Of GLP-1 Policy After Drug Shortage Ends
If and when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that GLP-1 RA drugs are no longer in short supply, regulators will face questions of how to balance access to GLP-1 RAs with statutory and policy considerations applicable to compounded drugs, say attorneys at Skadden.
-
Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024
From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.
-
How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses
Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
-
Nutraceutical Patent Insights As Market Heats Up
Companies entering the expanding nutraceutical market and seeking patents to protect their innovations should evaluate successful nutraceutical claim language and common patent challenges in this field, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.
-
How White Collar Attys Can Use Mythic Archetypes At Trial
A careful reading of a classic screenwriting guide shows that fairy tales and white collar trials actually have a lot in common, and defense attorneys would do well to tell a hero’s journey at trial, relying on universal character archetypes to connect with the jury, says Jack Sharman at Lightfoot Franklin.
-
What 2024 Election Means For Drugs, Medicare And Medicaid
With Republicans running the White House, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, the incoming administration is likely to provide pathways — through new initiatives and others returning from Trump's previous presidency — for a range of potential changes to drug pricing, Medicare and Medicaid, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
-
Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case
After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.
-
Key Takeaways From FDA's Latest Social Media Warnings
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest untitled letter concerning a drug company's social media promotion provides lessons for how companies should navigate risk presentation, FDA labeling requirements and superiority claims, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
-
Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On
Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.
-
Unpacking Arguments From High Court's Rural Hospital Case
During oral arguments in Advocate v. Becerra, the U.S. Supreme Court justices focused questions on the meaning of being "entitled to" supplementary security income assistance, and there's reason for optimism that the likely split decision will break in favor of hospitals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
-
Health Policy Predictions For Trump's Second Administration
As President-elect Donald Trump's nominations for health policy and enforcement heads work their way through the confirmation process, healthcare organizations can look at nominee backgrounds, campaign statements and actions from Trump's previous presidency to predict incoming priorities, say attorneys at McDermott.
-
What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration
Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.
-
Weak Reasoning Underlies Fla. Judge's Bold Qui Tam Ruling
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle's groundbreaking decision in U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates LLC, holding that qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are unconstitutional, relies on weak logic to reach a conclusion that differs from every other court that has ruled on the issue, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.