Medtronic under fire for payments in Scotland
April 1, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
Medtronic found itself at the center of a conflict-of-interest scandal after members of Scotland’s Parliament reported that the medical device giant had been indirectly sponsoring government events.
Medtronic had provided funds for years to the charity Pain Concern, which in turn had sponsored beverage services for Scotland’s Parliament’s cross-party group on chronic pain, according to local reports. Questions about potential conflicts of interest put a stop to the payments, according to The Herald. Read more
Medtech inventors suit against Ethicon, law firm can stand
April 1, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A lawsuit accusing an attorney of passing trade secrets along to Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon Endo-Surgery subsidiary will stand after a federal judge dismissed the law firm’s bid to toss the suit.
Judge David Cercone of the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania ruled last week that the lawsuit, brought by retired Pennsylvania surgeon Dr. Enrico Nicolo, can stand under Pennsylvania’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, according to court documents. Read more
Appeals court upholds dismissal in BioMimetic shareholder lawsuit
April 2, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A federal appeals court backed Wright Medical’s BioMimetic Therapeutics subsidiary in a lawsuit filed by shareholders of BioMimetic, which Wright acquired in 2012, alleging that the then-independent company misled investors about the prospects for its Augment bone graft with the FDA.
A lower court dismissed the lawsuit, filed in 2011 after an FDA briefing document released ahead of an advisory panel meeting sent BioMimetic shares plunging. The complaint alleged that the company and its management concealed problems with the Augment clinical trial but “spoke optimistically to investors about the device’s prospects for FDA approval,” according to court documents. Read more
Judge vacates $5M arbitration award in ex-reps' suit against Masimo
April 4, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Masimo is off the hook for a $5 million arbitration award after a federal judge yesterday found the arbitrator was biased against the medical device company because of his brother’s work as a lawyer for patient monitoring rival Covidien.
The ex-reps, Michael Ruhe and Vicente Catala, accused Masimo of promoting off-label uses for its Pronto and Pronto-7 patient monitoring devices, improperly billing government insurance programs, withholding sales records and interfering with subpoenas. Read more
NuVasive loses 2nd, $30M trademark trial against NeuroVision
April 4, 2014 by Brad Perriello
NuVasive Inc. vowed to appeal its 2nd loss to NeuroVision Medical Products in a trademark infringement lawsuit, after a California jury yesterday awarded $30 million in damages to NeuroVision.
NeuroVision 1st sued NuVasive in 2009, alleging infringement of its namesake trademark. Read more
