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| Becton Dickinson safety syringes--Courtesy of Becton Dickinson |
More than a year after a Texas jury told Becton Dickinson ($BD) to pay $340 million in damages to Retractable Technologies in an antitrust battle over competing safety syringes, a U.S. federal court is ordering the devicemaker to notify customers that it made false claims about its product.
Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas ordered the Franklin Lakes, NJ-based company to tell customers that it falsely claimed that its safety syringes were sharper and wasted less medicine than those made by Retractable Technologies. Becton is also required to post a notice on its website and provide training for its employees and distributors to avoid any future false claims, Reuters reports.
The courtroom drama dates back to 2007, when Little Elm, TX-based Retractable sued Becton for trying to monopolize the market for safety syringes through false advertising. Even though Retractable won jury damages and the recent court order requiring Becton to notify customers, the company has not emerged the victor in every battle. On Monday, Judge Davis rejected Retractable's request for an additional $260 million in damages, saying that they were already included in the original $340 million award. The judge also ruled that the company's request for $36.5 million in legal fees was too high and told Retractable to recalculate the amount.
The news does not bode well for Becton as it finalizes its acquisition of CareFusion. In October, the devicemaker said it would shell out $12.2 million for the company, financing the deal with a $9.1 billion bridge loan. Both sides stand to benefit from the transaction, as Becton will expand its hospital offerings and CareFusion can access a broader global market. Becton expects to finalize the deal by the end of 2015, the company said in an earlier statement.
Meanwhile, Becton continues to forge ahead with plans to generate some upward momentum. The company's net income dropped more than 56% in its fiscal 2013 first quarter due to higher operating costs and the medical device tax, but Becton also reported sizable gains in its diagnostics and biosciences businesses.
"We have continuing confidence that we have built a solid foundation for future growth," CEO Vincent Forlenza said in an earlier statement.
- read the Reuters article