A Maryland federal judge has once again ruled that Alfasigma failed to comply with the terms of a permanent injunction tied to a $15 million jury verdict in a long-running legal battle over a proprietary probiotic formula.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang found that the biomedical company did not demonstrate “good faith substantial compliance” with his 2019 injunction, which barred Alfasigma and other companies from making certain claims about “VSL#3,” a probiotic developed by researcher Claudio De Simone. The injunction followed a 2018 jury verdict finding that Alfasigma and two other drugmakers had unlawfully used De Simone’s formula and violated false advertising laws.
In a ruling issued Monday, Judge Chuang pointed to posts on Alfasigma’s website and responses to healthcare provider inquiries as clear violations of the injunction. He ordered the company to pay ExeGi Pharma’s reasonable attorney’s fees for bringing the motion, describing Alfasigma’s actions as “completely unacceptable.”
