Johnson & Johnson

Nevada agreed to back a proposed nationwide settlement worth up to $26 billion resolving lawsuits against three large drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, the state’s attorney general said on January 4.

Elizabeth Holmes is facing decades in prison after a jury found the founder and former chief executive officer of the blood-testing company Theranos guilty of four fraud charges.

Novartis

Novartis AG said on January 4 a U.S. court of appeals upheld the validity of a dosage regimen patent for the company’s multiple sclerosis treatment Gilenya, allowing a permanent injunction against Chinese generic drugmaker HEC Pharma to stay in place until the patent expires in 2027.

2021 was an important year for the life sciences industry. From the continuing fight against COVID-19 to new companies emerging in exciting therapeutic areas to the people who mattered most, BioSpace looks at some of the biggest successes, most dramatic flops – and a few that fall somewhere in between. 

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will appeal a potential $1.5 billion judgment against the company in the state of New York for its alleged role in the opioid epidemic.

American chemist and former Harvard University professor Dr. Charles Lieber was convicted by a federal jury after being found guilty of lying to the U.S. government about his questionable ties with the People’s Republic of China. 

A U.S. appeals court on December 17 reinstated a nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses, which covers 80 million American workers, prompting opponents to rush to the Supreme Court to ask it to intervene.

A California jury found that Bayer’s Roundup weedkiller was not the cause of a woman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Bayer said on December 9, delivering the chemical giant a second trial victory over claims the popular herbicide causes cancer.

After seven days on the witness stand, Elizabeth Holmes – the former chief executive officer of Theranos – finished testifying in her defense against charges of massive fraud. 

AbbVie Inc. settled claims by New York and two of the state’s counties that the company fueled an epidemic of opioid addiction in the state, on the day jurors were expected to hear closing arguments at the end of a five-month trial.