Lawyers

• US Food and Drug Administration bans imports of drug used for executions in Texas

  Texas prison officials are reviewing the action of US Food and Drug Administration on blocking the state's efforts in acquiring and importing of drug used in executions.

• U.S. approval of Merck cancer immunotherapy expected soon

  U.S. regulators are likely to approve Merck & Co's highly anticipated immuno-oncology drug, pembrolizumab, as a treatment for melanoma well ahead of a late October deadline, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

• Listeria panic forces Canadian food inspectors to ban US Sweet 2 Eat fruit products

  According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the whole peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots that are being sold under the Sweet 2 Eat brand are being recalled by Wawona Packing Company of California. The products are also being labeled under the Wawona or Harvest Sweet brands, The Star reported.

• Abbott Labs, AbbVie to face consolidated lawsuits in Chicago

  A panel of judges decided yesterday to consolidate the cases lodged against pharmaceutical companies Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie Inc over the risks that they allegedly hid of taking the testosterone-replacement drug AndroGel, Bloomberg said.

• Hummus lawsuit tackles "standards of identity" in food products

  Sabra's latest petition to seek "standards of identity" for hummus could be the company's answer to the proliferation of companies in the US who market hummus product without at least one of the basic main ingredients in making the food dip, Yahoo News said.

• Teva loses over FDA over generic production of Copaxone

  Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd lost another legal challenge to the introduction of generic versions of its lucrative multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone when a judge dismissed its lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration over its calls for more additional testing of its rival's drug versions, Bloomberg reported.

• Popular e-cigarettes to be subject under FDA review

  The US Food and Drug Administration has recently announced the creation of a dedicated agency to provide regulatory oversight on tobacco-based products, which will also include e-cigarettes

• Powdered alcohol a go after getting blocked by US regulators over label issues

  The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had said on Monday that it has reinstated its approval of Palcohol and cited that the initial approvals for the powdered alcohol were done in error, TIME said.

• US FDA to draft rules on e-cigarette regulation, threaten $1.5B industry

  The US Food and Drug Administration is currently in the process of drafting a proposed legislation to regulate e-cigarettes, the popular alternative to tobacco and nicotine patch.