The U.S. FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) announced it will study how patients assess the benefits and risks of using smooth or textured breast implants. …

In order to prevent district courts from being overwhelmed with 3M military earplug cases, the judge overseeing the nation’s largest multidistrict litigation in U.S. history has ordered 3M and plaintiffs’ attorneys to begin mediation talks next month. The order, issued June 10 by U.S. District Judge Casey Rogers, stated that…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug, Olumiant (baricitinib), to treat alopecia areata. The June 13 announcement stated that the new approval marked the first time the agency has approved a systemic treatment that targets the entire body rather than a single location. Alopecia areata…

Two years after paying $24 million to settle claims that it allegedly committed insurance fraud by giving kickbacks while promoting its arthritis drug, Humira, AbbVie is now facing similar claims in another state. On May 20, an AbbVie investor filed a lawsuit in Delaware claiming that the pharmaceutical company’s senior…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a recall for Medtronic’s HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) Pump Implant Kit after they were found to have dangerous defects. The June 8 Class I recall is, according to the FDA, “the most serious type of recall” with the use of…

Two pharmaceutical companies that formerly produced opioid drugs tentatively agreed to pay $161 million to West Virginia, one of the states most affected by the opioid epidemic. The announced settlement, made May 25, totals $161 million and will be paid by Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan, a subunit of AbbVie Pharmaceuticals. …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Class I recall regarding the Philips Respironics V60 and V60 Plus Ventilator models. The recall notice issued June 7 states that the use of these devices could result in serious injury or death. The Philips Respironics V60 and V60 Plus…

Plaintiffs in a Seattle school district have been battling the Monsanto Corporation in court over the alleged harm caused by exposure to PCBs, a class of chemicals that was banned in 1977 due to associations with health risks to humans and wildlife, as well as its allegedly deleterious effects on…

A class action lawsuit alleging that Kroger brand’s lidocaine patches were falsely advertised has been dismissed. The suit claimed that the patches fall off within minutes after being applied to the skin, despite promising pain relief for hours. The lawsuit, filed May 23, claimed that Kroger, which manufactures and markets…