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 …
Claiming that DMAA (1,3-dimethylamylamine) is a “constituent” of geraniums, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. sold DMAA as a dietary supplement, in products intended for body-builders. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration seized the products, claiming that DMAA is a food additive because it is not generally recognized …
The last time we blogged on news from a recent pharmaconference.com industry conference about current Good Manufacturing Practice (“GMP by the Sea,” agenda linked here), we provided some cute references to corn pudding recipes (blogpost linked here). Despite universally positive feedback about those culinary diversions, …
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 …
After reading OPDP’s latest enforcement letter, we had déjà vu all over again and were transported back to 2016 when we blogged that OPDP was Not Dead Yet. At that time, OPDP had posted two enforcement letters on the same day relating to TV ads …
Telemedicine platforms provide consumers and patients with convenient access to healthcare services. For this reason, the interest in and use of telemedicine services has increased significantly in recent years. While many discussions of the risks related to telemedicine focus on state laws and fraud and abuse concerns, …
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 …
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, …
We previously posted about what the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (commonly referred to as the Farm Bill) did, and did not, do with respect to “hemp” and CBD products derived from hemp. In that post, we noted that the Farm Bill did not preempt …
In a press release issued on April 3rd, FDA reiterated its warning to stem cell clinics (and implicitly to other HCT/P facilities that are benefiting from enforcement discretion), asserting that the agency has stepped up oversight over such facilities, and will be ramping up even …
