Firm News: Drugs & Devices: Page 16

The FDA has announced plans to commission a study of the corrosion that occurs in certain models of metal hip implants, saying more data is needed to safeguard patients. The devices in question —prosthetic hip joints that have modular junctions which provide more options at implantation but pose risks for excess mechanical motion causing fretting and…

A former Accutane user was awarded $9 million by a New Jersey jury against Hoffmann La-Roche Inc. and Roche Laboratories, subsidiaries of Roche Holding AG (ROG). The pharmaceutical companies are based in Nutley, N.J. The plaintiff, one of four in a combined trial, took Accutane for acne treatment from 1997-1998 when she was a teenager. …

Weitz & Luxenberg client John McDarby, 77, and his wife were rewarded a $4.5 million dollar verdict and $9 million in punitive damages from a New Jersey jury in one of the first Vioxx trial cases against Merck. ”The verdict is a victory for the 100,000 Americans who had heart attacks from Vioxx,” said lawyer Robert Gordon.…