On April 16, 2015, President Barack Obama signed into law the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The bill permanently transforms the structure of Medicare physician reimbursement and enacts several changes to Medicare payment, program integrity and policy provisions that will affect both health care providers and pharmaceutical/medical device manufacturers. The most … Continue Reading
The French government issued a bill on March 17 for the extension of class actions to health-related claims in France. Starting today, March 31, the text will be discussed at the French National Assembly, particularly to address the issue of compensation for personal injury within the framework of the proposed class action.… Continue Reading
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) have jointly filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for review of the Ninth Circuit's decision in PhRMA v. County of Alameda, in which the court ruled that Alameda County's Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance - requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish or participate in a program for collecting unwanted prescription drugs from consumers - was constitutional.… Continue Reading
The Alameda County (CA) Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance (Alameda County Code Chapter 6.53, §§ 6.53.010-6.53.120) is one of several county-wide regulations across the United States to enforce the establishment of and/or participation in Product Stewardship Plans on the part of pharmaceutical manufacturers, with the ultimate goal of collecting unwanted drugs for purposes of disposal. The … Continue Reading
Over on the Drug & Device Law blog, Reed Smith partner Jim Beck applauds the recent decision in Tyree v. Boston Scientific Corp., a case filed in the Southern District of West Virginia. Tyree manages to narrow the scope of the 2007 decision in State ex rel. Johnson & Johnson v. Karl, in which the … Continue Reading
Over on the Drug & Device Law blog, the team maintains several scorecards and cheat sheets on product liability litigation topics relevant to pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. Reed Smith associate Kevin Hara has updated the blog's adverse event report cheat sheet to include the most recent decisions from across the country addressing whether adverse event reports can be used as admissible evidence on the grounds of causation. In discussing this issue, Kevin advocates the legal principle that if a plaintiff cannot prove a particular product's capability of adverse event causation, the court should rule in favor of the defendent.… Continue Reading
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health & Human Services issued a Special Advisory Bulletin (SAB) on September 19, 2014 discussing the coupon programs employed by many pharmaceutical manufacturers to reduce or entirely eliminate patient copayments to obtain brand-name drugs. As mentioned on our Health Industry Washington Watch blog, the SAB … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the FDA issued two draft guidances on social media, and Reed Smith attorneys Colleen Davies, Celeste Letourneau, Kevin Madagan, and Jennifer Pike have written a client alert that analyzes them both in detail. The first guidance pertains to product claims and risk information on platforms like Twitter and sponsored links, and the second to correcting third party misinformation that appears in social media, such as in comments on a Facebook page or website.
A key date to keep in mind is that the deadline for comments is September 16, 2014.… Continue Reading
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a proposed rule that would institute several changes to the health care program civil monetary penalty (CMP) regulations. Under the proposed rule, the OIG would have the expanded authority to enforce significant CMPs on providers and suppliers in a variety of scenarios.
Reed Smith has prepared a Client Alert summarizing and analyzing the Proposed Rule, including the various scenarios under which CMPs could be issued under the proposed regulations as well as the changes in technical language proposed by OIG to more clearly define the scope of CMP regulations.… Continue Reading
Drug and medical device manufacturers are often faced with difficult challenges in determining the country of origin for their products, which are often sourced, processed and manufactured in multiple countries. As detailed by the article "Origin of the Pieces: How to Determine a Pharmaceutical Product's 'Country of Origin,'" written by Reed Smith lawyers Jeffrey Orenstein and Lorraine Campos, there are a variety of factors that must be taken into consideration when answering the country of origin question for a pharmaceutical product - chief among which is who is asking the question. This article provides an overview of the principal regulatory schemes and their country of origin standards in order to help provide clarity to pharmaceutical companies in an often confusing and frustrating process.… Continue Reading
As mentioned on our Health Industry Washington Watch blog, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a plan intended to incentivize manufacturers to voluntarily update their prescription drug and biologics labels. The plan calls for the use of a government contractor to assist manufacturers in making these updates according to the labeling guidelines … Continue Reading
Every time a pharmaceutical company labels a drug, imports it, exports it, markets it, or sells it to the U.S. government, the company must answer a complicated question: what is the "country of origin"? The correct answer may depend on what government agency is asking.… Continue Reading
As mentioned on our Health Industry Washington Watch blog, the Food and Drug Administration issued a final guidance document on January 16, 2014 which provides specific recommendations on the content and format of Dear Health Care Provider (DHCP or “Dear Doctor”) letters. The recent guidance finalizes a draft guidance FDA published in November of 2010. To read … Continue Reading
This post was written by Jay J. Yan, Hugh T. Scogin, Jr., John J. Tan, Mao Rong, Katherine Yang, May Wong, Amy Yin and Gordon B. Schatz. Reed Smith’s China Life Sciences and Health Industry Client Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life … Continue Reading
This post was written by Jay J. Yan, Hugh T. Scogin, Jr., John J. Tan, Mao Rong, Katherine Yang, May Wong, Amy Yin and Gordon B. Schatz. Reed Smith’s China Life Sciences and Health Industry Client Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ … Continue Reading
This post was written by Jay J. Yan, Hugh T. Scogin, Jr., John J. Tan, Mao Rong, Katherine Yang, May Wong, Amy Yin and Gordon B. Schatz. Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health … Continue Reading
This post was written by Jay J. Yan, Hugh T. Scogin, Jr., John J. Tan, Katherine Yang, May Wong and Gordon B. Schatz. Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries Some important … Continue Reading
Recent posts on www.lifescienceslegalupdate.com include:
"Supreme Court Rules That Juries - Not Judges - Must Determine Facts Supporting Large Criminal Fines"
The Reed Smith Global Regulatory Enforcement Law blog has an interesting post about a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protects the Sixth Amendment rights of defendants in high-stakes criminal cases. In Southern Union Co. v. United States, the Court ruled that any fact supporting a "substantial" criminal fine must be found by a jury applying the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. In this post, Efrem M. Grail and Kyle R. Bahr explain the opinion and discuss the wide impact it will have on criminal actions, from investigation to sentencing.
View the entire entry:
https://www.lifescienceslegalupdate.com/2012/07/articles/health-care/supreme-court-rules-that-juries-not-judges-must-determine-facts-supporting-large-criminal-fines/
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"Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing - June 2012 (July 20, 2012)"
Reed Smith's Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China's Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries.… Continue Reading
This post was written by John Tan, Jay J. Yan, Mao Rong, Katherine Yang, and Gordon B. Schatz. Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries. Some important developments during May include: Introduction … Continue Reading
Reed Smith's Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China's Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries.… Continue Reading
Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries. Some developments during March include: American Medical Device Maker Accused of Bribery to Doctors in China and other Countries Qiagen Inks HPV Screening Deal with … Continue Reading
This post was written by Jay J. Yan, Mao Rong, Zack Dong, Katherine Yang, Joyce Sun, Sara Lai and Gordon B. Schatz. Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries. Some important developments … Continue Reading
Reed Smith's Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China's Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries.… Continue Reading
This post was written by Jay Yan, Mao Rong, Zack Dong, Zhao Hong, Gordon Schatz, Dr. David Kan and Katherine Yang. Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Health Industry China Briefing provides a summary of the monthly news and legal developments relating to China’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Life Sciences/ Health Care Industries. Some important developments during … Continue Reading