Johnson & Johnson Wants Its Day In Court For Cancer-Warning Lawsuit
The plaintiffs want the case dismissed, but Johnson & Johnson is worried the firm will file the suit again but this time with more defendants.
Johnson & Johnson wants its day in court to fight a lawsuit intended to force it to put a cancer warning on the company鈥檚 Baby Powder. So, it鈥檚 urging a judge not to let a law firm that鈥檚 been arguing for the warning to suddenly drop the lawsuit. It鈥檚 an unusual twist for a defendant not to go along with plaintiffs who want their case dismissed. But it鈥檚 being fought because J&J doesn鈥檛 want to give the Lanier Law Firm a chance to refile the suit with more defendants. (Pettersson, 7/27)
In other health care industry news 鈥
Tenet Healthcare Corp.鈥檚 plan to spin off its revenue-cycle subsidiary could be good news for the future independent company, which will be free to spend money as it wishes. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e liberating the spinoff company to redeploy capital in a way that is most aligned with the nature of that subsidiary as opposed to the nature of the parent,鈥 said Brian Brownschidle, executive director with XMS Capital Partners. (Bannow, 7/26)
Livongo and Health Catalyst began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday, joining a slew of companies to end a nearly three-year drought since the last initial public offering of a digital health company. The two companies joined Phreesia, a healthcare software provider that went public one week earlier on July 18, and Change Healthcare, a revenue cycle management company formed through a series of acquisitions and a merger with McKesson's technology business, which began trading in June. (Cohen, 7/26)
Universal Health Services, the company that has contracted to provide inpatient care for patients now treated at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division鈥檚 hospital in Wauwatosa, has reached a tentative agreement with the federal government and various state attorneys general to pay $127 million to settle allegations that some of its hospitals fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid. The company won approval this month from the West Allis Common Council to build a $33 million behavioral health hospital at 1706 S. 68th St. The 120-bed hospital is expected to open in 2021. (Boulton, 7/27)
