Blog Environmental Litigation Philadelphia | Honik Law
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NEWS

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure adequate supply, the FDA permitted companies to use trace amounts of ethanol-based products, such as benzene, in their hand sanitizer products.  However, multiple companies took advantage of the pandemic to sell hand sanitizers with large amounts of benzene in them, well in excess in the trace amounts temporarily allowed by the FDA.  Benzene is a known human carcinogen used to make rocket fuel.  Honik LLC is representing a nationwide class of purchasers who bought these contaminated hand sanitizer products. ...

Valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan are popular generic drugs primarily used to treat high blood pressure.  Beginning in the summer of 2018, multiple companies announced nationwide (and later global) recalls because these generic drugs were contaminated with dangerous probable carcinogens known as nitrosamines.  This was one of the largest Class I recalls announced by the FDA in history.  Ruben Honik is appointed co-lead counsel, and David Stanoch is appointed liaison counsel, to the nationwide leadership committee steering all valsartan claims nationwide, including those who took these drugs and developed one or more types of cancer (e.g., liver, colon, stomach, rectal, esophageal, pancreatic, prostate, and certain blood cancers), who are seeking refunds for the contaminated drugs they purchased, or who are seeking medical monitoring to screen for cancers that patients may develop in the future. ...

Metformin is another popular generic drug, but unlike valsartan is used to treat type 2 diabetes.  In late 2019 and the beginning of 2020, Metformin manufactured by multiple companies was found recently to be contaminated with the same carcinogenic nitrosamines as valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan.  Ruben Honik is co-lead counsel leading the consolidated class action litigation for refunds for the contaminated drugs purchased by consumers. ...

Intuniv is a popular brand-name drug to treat ADHD, particularly for pediatric patients.  Rather than face generic competition, the brand manufacturer of Intuniv entered into a so-called “pay for delay” agreement with the lead generic manufacturer to delay a generic version of Intuniv.  This resulted in consumers paying higher branded-drug prices for a longer period of time than they should have.  Ruben Honik is co-lead counsel leading the plaintiff group representing consumers in multiple states seeking to hold the manufacturers accountable under the antitrust and other laws for engaging in this “pay for delay” scheme. ...

In the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, physicians and physician practices increasingly find themselves at the mercy of the immense market power wielded by health In the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, physicians and physician practices increasingly find themselves at the mercy of the immense market power wielded by health insurers.  When Highmark Health, one of the largest health insurers in Pennsylvania, unilaterally imposed an across-the-board reimbursement rate cut, Honik LLC worked with physicians in Western Pennsylvania to fight back.  David Stanoch served as lead counsel for the plaintiff class.  Ultimately, Honik LLC lawyers recently secured a recovery for physicians and physician practices in Western Pennsylvania reflecting the amount of the reimbursement rate cut, as well as resulting in more flexibility for physicians and physician practices when they select which healthcare insurance products they will accept. ...

When federal inmates are released, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons issues them debit cards with any funds they turned over while entering or earned during incarceration.  Those debit cards, however, came with numerous fees that were a regular consumer would never pay, including fees simply to check one’s balance or to withdraw money.  Honik LLC lawyers, on behalf of a class of federal releasees, successfully obtained 100% recovery of all debit card fees unfairly imposed.  Later, Honik LLC lawyers obtained 100% recovery for similarly oppressive debit card fees on behalf of Arizona state releasees. ...