LAWFUEL – US Law News – On September 7, 2006, Judge Paul Crotty of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., denying a motion by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Inc. for a preliminary injunction in a false advertising case involving Roche’s osteoporosis drug Boniva®. Davis Polk represented Hoffmann-La Roche and its co-defendant GlaxoSmithKline in the case. Hoffmann-La Roche, based in New Jersey, is a subsidiary of Roche Holding Ltd, a leading pharmaceutical firm with global headquarters in Switzerland. GlaxoSmithKline is a leading pharmaceutical firm, with global headquarters in the United Kingdom and U.S. offices in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
In the lawsuit, which was brought in January 2006, P&G contended that Hoffmann-La Roche’s advertising for Boniva was false and misleading and sought a preliminary injunction under the Lanham Act. Judge Crotty conducted a four-day evidentiary hearing. In a 68-page opinion, the court concluded that P&G had not demonstrated that the TV advertising, websites, sales aids and sales force detailing for Boniva are false and misleading and rejected in all respects P&G’s motion for preliminary injunction. The court also held that the consumer and physician survey evidence offered by P&G in support of its motion was flawed and inadmissible.
The Davis Polk litigation team included partners Arthur F. Golden, Joel M. Cohen and Jerome G. Snider, and associates Christopher Withers, Tatiana R. Martins, Ronja Bandyopadhyay, Daniel S. Kahn, Crystal McKellar, Matthew B. Rowland, Daniel P. Chung, Lara E. Veblen, and former associates Margery M. Shanoff and Audrey J. Lee. Boyoung Youn was the principal legal assistant on the matter. All members of the Davis Polk team work in the New York office.
