Countering a string of expert witnesses, including Robert Huizenga from the O.J. Simpson murder case, was key to Allergan Inc.’s win in a high-profile lawsuit over its flagship Botox drug.
Ellen Darling, a product liability litigation partner at Phoenix-based Snell & Wilmer LLP’s Irvine office, said she sought to show that doctors called to testify in the trial didn’t have experience giving Botox or understanding of the drug’s actions once injected.
Darling led Allergan’s defense along with colleague Hoot Gibson.
“We were able to show the jury that these doctors did not know anything about Botox, that they tried to learn about Botox before this case went to trial and during the trial,” Darling said.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles jury and judge cleared Irvine-based Allergan and dermatologist Arnold Klein of wrongdoing in a suit brought by Hollywood wife Irena Medavoy.
Medavoy sued Klein and Allergan after developing aches and pains she blamed on Botox injections from Klein to treat migraines.
Timothy Chiang, an analyst at New York investment bank Natexis Bleichroeder Inc., predicts business as usual for Allergan in the wake of its court win.
“Botox is sort of a household name when it comes to the plastic surgeon market and the dermatology segment,” Chiang said. “My feeling is that it’s certainly not a negative now that this case is over. I think Allergan will continue to do well with Botox.”
If Botox didn’t work well, Chiang said, “this issue would have come up a lot sooner than it did with the Medavoy case.”
Allergan isn’t expected to face potential competition for Botox until at least 2006. Inamed Corp. and Mentor Corp., both of Santa Barbara, are developing rival products.
Cardiac Science Stock Shock
Cardiac Science Inc., the Irvine-based heart defibrillator maker, may be Orange County’s fastest-growing public company. (See special report, page 9.)
But it got a few jolts from investors earlier this month after saying third-quarter results would miss expectations.
Cardiac Science’s results are due Wednesday.
The company’s shares fell about 10% on the news. Cardiac Science said it expects sales for the quarter to be around $14.6 million, down from the $16.5 million to $18.5 million forecast in July.
The device maker blamed the shortfall on several factors, including slower sales among corporate and government buyers, increased competition for government sales and some $500,000 worth of back orders for Cardiac Science’s new Powerheart G3 Automatic product.
Cardiac Science competes against several companies, including Royal Philips Electronics NV, Medtronic Inc. and Zoll Medical Corp.
The company counted a market value of about $150 million at recent check.
Board Moves
Kevin Farr, chief financial officer of El Segundo-based Mattel Inc., has joined the board at Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc., raising the number of directors from 10 to 11.
In a release, Beckman Chief Executive John Wareham said Farr’s experience as a certified public accountant and at Mattel would make him a good addition to the biomedical testing company’s board.
Farr is set to stand for election at Beckman’s shareholder meeting next April.
Farr, who holds a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Business, joined Mattel in 1991.
Before becoming chief financial officer in 2000, Farr served as Mattel’s senior vice president and corporate controller.
In another board move, Christobel Selecky was promoted to the new position of executive chairman of LifeMasters Supported SelfCare Inc., an Irvine-based disease management company.
LifeMasters said Selecky’s new position was created “so that she can increase her focus on helping to build and promote the rapidly growing disease management industry.”
Selecky previously was LifeMasters’ chairman and chief executive. David Strand, who has been LifeMasters’ chief operating officer and president, was named chief executive and president.
Strand held his previous positions since early 2003.
In other LifeMasters news, the company was named to Deloitte & Touche’s Technology Fast 50 for Orange County. The rankings are based on the percentage of growth in fiscal year revenue from 1999 through 2003.
