"US Supreme Court gives pharma companies a chance to thwart terrorism-funding lawsuit," 24 June 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court [decided on]... a challenge by 21 pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies led by AstraZeneca to a lawsuit accusing them of illegally helping to fund terrorism that killed or injured... American troops and civilians in Iraq. The justices threw out a lower court's ruling that revived a lawsuit brought by the military personnel and civilians who said they were harmed between 2005 and 2011 in the Iraq war. The justices asked the lower court to reconsider the case.

...American service members and civilians, and their families, sued the defendant companies, part of five corporate families: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, GE Healthcare USA, Johnson & Johnson and F. Hoffmann-La Roche.

The plaintiffs accused major U.S. and European pharmaceutical and device makers of providing corrupt payments to the Hezbollah-sponsored militia group Jaysh al-Mahdi in order to obtain medical supply contracts from Iraq's health ministry...

The companies have denied wrongdoing and said they "are not responsible in any way for the tragic events that were caused and carried out by Iraqi militia groups." In a joint statement, the pharmaceutical and device companies on Monday said they welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling. They said the lawsuit should now be dismissed...

"The companies continue to vigorously dispute the plaintiffs' allegations in this case and are not responsible in any way for the tragic events that were caused and carried out by Iraqi militia groups," the statement added.