Healthcare

Novartis has lost its bid to have Pharmacor’s claim that its patent for a blood pressure drug is invalid decided ahead of a main trial where the Swiss pharmaceutical giant will allege the generic drug maker is threatening to infringe its patent. 

Two class actions against Victorian aged care providers on behalf of families of residents who died due to alleged failures during the COVID-19 pandemic have appealed a ruling that rejected their bid for insurance and financial information to assist in mediation.

Junior doctors have notched an important victory in a class action alleging Peninsula Health failed to pay overtime hours, with a judge finding the healthcare provider liable to pay for overtime that was not expressly authorised.

A judge has directed a class action on behalf of 1,000 patients of Sydney-based plastic surgeon Daniel Lanzer and four of his associates to have another go at articulating claims that Lanzer’s clinic should be liable for allegedly ‘horrific’ complications. 

Class actions throw up all manner of ethical conundrums, but a recent Federal Court decision has shined a light on the question of whether funders and law firms should take out loans to run class actions and whether they can charge the costs to group members.

Slater and Gordon has agreed to consolidate its data breach class action against Medibank with one brought by Baker McKenzie, after the judge overseeing the cases railed against competing class actions.

Shine Lawyers’ bid to recoup “exorbitant” interest on a loan it took out to run pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson has raised new ethical dilemmas beyond the usual “sweaty palms and huge vexation” in most group proceedings, a judge has said.

The proposed $1.5 billion merger of Australian Clinical Labs and Healius — two of Australia’s largest pathology services providers — is likely to substantially lessen competition, the ACCC has warned.

A union representing 54 junior doctors alleging they were systemically underpaid has defeated a bid by NSW Health to stay its case until the determination of a related class action on behalf of tens of thousands of medical officers. 

A junior doctor representing thousands of medical officers in NSW has thwarted an application by the state to declass her group proceeding, with a judge saying a “single determination” of the issues common to all group members was the most efficient way of resolving them.