Juul Trial Begins: E-Cigarette Maker Accused Of Marketing To Minors

Reuters: Juul, Altria Face First Trial Over Claims Of Marketing E-Cigarettes To Teens 
E-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc and its former largest investor, Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, will face their first U.S. trial this week over claims that they created a public nuisance by marketing addictive e-cigarettes to minors. Minnesota seeks to force the companies to pay for measures to remedy the harms of addiction. It says Juul sold its e-cigarettes in sweet flavors and promoted them on social media to appeal to underage consumers. (Pierson, 3/27)

AP: Minnesota Suit Against E-Cigarette Maker Juul Goes To Trial 
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is slated to lead off opening statements expected for Tuesday in his state’s lawsuit against Juul Labs – marking the first time any of the thousands of cases against the e-cigarette maker over its alleged marketing to young people is going to play out in a courtroom. Minnesota sued Juul in 2019, accusing the San Francisco-based company of unlawfully targeting young people with its products to get a new generation addicted to nicotine. Ellison has declined to put a dollar figure on how much money the state is seeking in damages and civil penalties. But he said when he announced the lawsuit that it could be in the ballpark with Minnesota’s landmark $7.1 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998. (Karnowski, 3/27)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court Mulls Amgen Bid To Revive Cholesterol Drug Patents 
Amgen Inc sought to convince the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to revive patents on its cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha, while rival Sanofi SA urged the justices not to stifle competition for therapies to address a common health risk. The justices heard arguments in Amgen's appeal of a lower court's ruling that invalidated two of its patents on Repatha, a drug that can reduce risk of heart attack and stroke in people with heart disease, after a legal fight with French drugmaker Sanofi and its partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Kruzel and Chung, 3/27)

Stat: Novartis Says Breast Cancer Drug Succeeds In Key Trial
Novartis announced data Monday that could set up one of the biggest marketing battles in cancer. At issue is the market for medicines called CDK 4/6 inhibitors. The first of these drugs, Pfizer’s Ibrance, is a $5-billion-a-year product and one of that company’s top sellers. But it has been losing market share to Eli Lilly’s Verzenio. (Herper, 3/27)

NBC News: Drug Combo May Extend The Lives Of Women With Advanced Endometrial Cancer
Women with advanced endometrial cancer may live longer before their tumors return if they receive immunotherapy and chemotherapy at the same time, according to two studies published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Edwards, 3/27)

Stat: New Depression Drugs Are Bringing Hope To A Long-Stagnant Field
On May 8, 1972, a researcher at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis named Jong-Sin Horng tested a compound his team had developed and found it had a curious property. The agent, called Lilly 110140, altered chemical activity in the brain linked to depression. It tested as mildly effective, had fewer side effects than older antidepressants, and virtually no overdose risk. (Even the most commonly prescribed drugs of that era, called tricyclics, were easy to overdose on in small amounts.) And in 1987, trade-named Prozac, it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, for the treatment of major depressive disorder. (Carey, 3/27)

Elon Musk is looking for volunteers for a brain implant —

Reuters: Musk's Brain Implant Company In Search Of Human Trials Partner
Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink has approached one of the biggest U.S. neurosurgery centers as a potential clinical trials partner as it prepares to test its devices on humans once regulators allow for it, according to six people familiar with the matter. Neuralink has been developing brain implants since 2016 it hopes will eventually be a cure for intractable conditions such as paralysis and blindness. (Taylor and Levy, 3/27)

In obituaries —

The New York Times: Gladys Kessler, Judge Who Curbed Deceptive Tobacco Ads, Dies At 85 
Gladys Kessler, a federal judge who in a historic ruling in 2006 found that the tobacco industry had violated civil racketeering laws for decades by “repeatedly, and with enormous skill and sophistication” deceiving the public about the health hazards of smoking, died on March 16 in Washington. She was 85. The cause of death, in a hospital, was complications of pneumonia, her family said. (Sandomir, 3/27)