Healthcare

Monash IVF is fighting a class action’s bid to file a fourth statement of claim in the three year-old case over the alleged destruction of potentially viable embryos, saying the proposed pleadings sparked by an expert report constituted a new case. 

Law firm Holding Redlich has been hit with proceedings over invoices totalling more than $334,000 by an ex-client who says the firm provided no cost agreement and made no cost disclosure over the course of an eight-month retainer. 

Sydney-based plastic surgeon Daniel Lanzer and several of his associates have objected to a class action’s eighth attempt at getting its claims over allegedly negligent cosmetic procedures right, saying the plaintiffs were engaged in a “continuing cycle of propagating versions” of their case.

A judge has rejected Samsung Bioepis’ bid to discover research and development documents from Pfizer as it seeks to invalidate the drug giant’s patent for its blockbuster autoimmune drug Enbrel, agreeing with Pfizer that it may be “no more than an exercise in fishing”.

Medibank failed to put in place baseline security measures, including multi-factor authentication, to safeguard sensitive information from a hacker in 2022, who stole an IT contractor’s credentials and logged in to the health insurer’s private network three months before the company learned its data was compromised, the OAIC says.

Elanco Australasia has lost its bid to appeal a finding by IP Australia that a patent acquired from Bayer covering a lice treatment for livestock lacked an inventive step.

The ACCC has flagged competition concerns about drug supplier Sigma Healthcare’s proposed $8.8 billion reverse merger with Chemist Warehouse, saying the tie-up could harm independent pharmacies and lessen competition in pharmacy retail.

After an 18-month investigation, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has lodged civil penalty proceedings against Medibank over its October 2022 data breach, accusing the health insurer of breaching the Privacy Act.

Drug giant Pfizer has blasted Samsung Bioepis’ “fishing expedition” in its suit alleging infringement of the patent for its blockbuster arthritis drug Enbrel, telling the court the Korean biotech should not be allowed to dig for new grounds of invalidity.  

A judge has upheld Neurim Pharmaceutical’s claim for additional damages against two generic drug companies found to have infringed its patent for insomnia drug Circadin, despite the company’s failure to comply with an earlier ruling.