Legal
Falsified Data Forces Duke to Pay $112 Million Settlement, Other Universities Under Scrutiny as Well
Duke University has agreed to pay the U.S. government more than $112 million to settle allegations that a university-associated researcher falsified claims in order to obtain funding from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.
Both Bayer and J&J claim the lawsuits are without merit but believe that the $775 million settlement will allow the companies to move on from costly litigation.
The Roche lawsuit claims that Utah-based Alliance Medical acquired the test strips through a Roche mail order plan and then resold them at a higher price.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 (UFCW Local 1500) filed a class action lawsuit against AbbVie for allegedly using a group of patents to maintain a monopoly on its blockbuster Humira (adalimumab).
Privately-held Swedish pharmaceutical company Lobsor Pharmaceuticals AB is eying the U.S. market for a potential treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
The life sciences industry is incredibly important to the financial ecosystem of the Golden State. Last year the industry generated total annual revenue of $177.1 billion in the state.
The scandal, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, revolves around dozens of wealthy parents paying a college consultant to help cheat on entrance exams and falsify student athlete profiles, as well as bribing coaches at a number of prestigious universities.
The White House budget proposal released earlier this week that slashed spending on the National Institutes of Health and Medicare programs has put members of the administration, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on the defensive.
Shares of Insys plunged more than 25 percent in trading Wednesday after the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it could soon run out of revenue and may have to resort to liquidating its assets.
With a major lawsuit in Oklahoma targeting Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma’s involvement in the opioid epidemic starting in May, many of the legal documents are being released, with strategies and sometimes incendiary rhetoric coming to light.
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