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Bayer AG said Thursday it will pay $1.6 billion to settle claims that its birth control device Essure causes serious health complications, the latest in a string of settlements by the German company to resolve litigation it faces in the U.S. Nearly 39,000 women had sued Bayer or hired lawyers over their use of Essure, a fallopian tube implant that prevents pregnancies. Bayer said it has already reached deals with lawyers representing 90% of those plaintiffs, and that the money is expected to cover the entirety of the claims. (Randazzo, 8/20)

Bayer announced Thursday it will pay $1.6 billion to settle the nearly 39,000 U.S.-based claims made against its controversial sterilization device Essure. Since at least 2016, thousands of lawsuits or reports have been filed against Bayer from women who claim Essure has caused them serious harm. Bayer settled 90% of the 39,000 claims and is in discussions with representatives for the remaining plaintiffs to resolve those lawsuits. The $1.6 billion represents allowances for both the resolved and outstanding claims, the company said in a news release. (Castellucci, 8/20)

Pfizer and BioNTech surprised many industry watchers on July 27 when they announced they would conduct a large-scale study of a vaccine for Covid-19. The surprise? The vaccine that would be tested in a 30,000-patient trial wasn’t the one for which the companies had presented data on July 1. The reason, the companies said, was that a second vaccine seemed to generate a similar immune response, but fewer side effects. (Herper, 8/20)

Following a review by the Department of Labor, a unit of Boehringer Ingelheim agreed to pay more than $379,000 in back pay and interest to dozens of female employees who were paid less than male employees. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs alleged the wage discrimination occurred at the company’s Animal Health unit following an audit conducted in 2015, according to a settlement agreement. The company was acting as a federal contractor. (Silverman, 8/20)

It’s tempting to interpret the Food and Drug Administration’s surprise rejections of drugs from Gilead Sciences and Biomarin Pharmaceuticals this week as an agency-wide sentiment downshift, raising concerns that fewer new medicines will reach the market. Don’t make that mistake. (Feuerstein, 8/21)

The Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of a gene therapy for hemophilia A on Wednesday surprised many hematology researchers and Wall Street watchers who expected speedy approval for the one-time treatment to end the inherited bleeding disorder. For one family in Indianapolis active in the hemophilia patient community, the decision was disappointing, but also appreciated. (Cooney, 8/20)