Wow, there’s been all sorts of legal news lately – from patent reform to legal woes for the big dawgs. Let’s take a look at the latest and also see who f-ed up :

-First, Forest Labs has gone and screwed up big time. These guys have been slapped with a lawsuit by the U.S. alleging the company promoted Lexapro and Celexa for use in children without FDA approval, and that they also paid kickbacks to doctors to encourage prescriptions. Not cool, man. The complaint also alleges that Forest hid a negative study that later was used by the FDA in a decision to give both drugs black box warnings. Check out BNET Pharma for a cool summary of some of the EXECS and DOCTORS involved in the craziness. [New York Times]

-Nigeria’s government offered Pfizer final terms to end civil and criminal charges against the big dawg over a 1996 drug trial. Nigerian lawyers allege 11 children died and scores were permanently disabled as a result of using the drug. Nigeria is seeking $7 billion in damages and has also filed a criminal suit claiming Pfizer used an untested meningitis drug called Trovan in 200 children during an epidemic. Kindler? Anyone? [International Herald Tribune]

-Henry Waxman spoke to the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) yesterday, telling attendees that “a workable scientific regulatory and legal pathway for biogenerics and biosimilar pharmaceuticals will ensure more affordable medications for Americans and we believe it will spur innovation in the biotech markets.” Waxman noted that industry officials are tossing around exclusivity periods of 12, 14, 16, and even 20 years. Yikes. Wonder how much cheaper they’re gonna be… [Patent Docs]

-The Manufacturing Alliance on Patent Policy (MAPP) have upped a rumor that Monday, March 2nd is the day on which the first of perhaps three patent reform bills will be introduced in Congress, Patent Docs reports. The bills aim to revamp the patent system by reducing the number of lawsuits, and the amount of damages paid. One of the bills was introduced last year, but stalled after big tech and pharma companies complained that lower damages would leave them vulnerable to infringers. [Reuters]

Image from legaljuice

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