J&J, Bayer lose first Xarelto case, hit with $28M verdict
After three wins in cases over the risks of blockbuster blood thinner Xarelto, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson have encountered their first defeat. A jury in Philadelphia ordered the drugmakers to pay $28 million to plaintiff Lynn Hartman, but the companies plan to appeal. But J&J and Bayer contend that Xarelto’s label does disclose its risks. The company faces thousands more liability cases, 21,400 in fact, according to J&J’s most recent quarterly filing. About 1,400 are pending in Philadelphia. First approved by the FDA in 2011, Xarelto was Bayer’s top-selling drug last year at $3.24 billion and ranked third for J&J at $2.5 billion in sales.
Depomed sells off Nucynta, and cuts 40% workforce to reduce costs
Depomed is selling off the franchise that was once the center of its growth hopes, and plenty of the company’s employees are leaving with it. Less than three years after shelling out $1.05 billion to acquire Nucynta ER and XR from Johnson & Johnson, the California drugmaker has licensed the meds to Collegium Pharmaceutical for just $10 million upfront. For the first four years of the pact, Depomed will receive a minimum of $135 million in royalties each year, and after that, that minimum will disappear. The switch will also save the company some cash, though: It’s slashing its pain salesforce and all brand spending on the franchise, taking SG&A costs down by $70 million each year. The transaction will also ‘improve’ Depomed’s 2018 earnings outlook, it said, though ‘details are unclear’.
