Stalled Suits Against Drug Companies Now Proceeding | DC Metro Area Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Posted by Patrick Regan and Paul Cornoni

Bloomberg News (4/30 Fisk, Feeley) reports, “Just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court decided patients can sue drugmakers over injuries from medicines approved by the government, long-stalled lawsuits against GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. are again moving toward trials.”

The Supreme Court’s decision in Wyeth essentially states that federal regulatory approval (FDA) of a medicine or drug doesn’t shield drugmakers from claims that patients were not adequately warned of potential side effects and other harms.  The Wyeth decision has already affected more than 250 lawsuits involving at least ten different drug companies.

As the article explains: “Glaxo this month settled two cases on claims its antidepressant Paxil can make patients suicidal, after judges set trials citing the Wyeth decision. A Barr Pharmaceuticals hyperactivity-drug case is to be tried in August in federal court in Tallahassee, Florida. And a group of Bristol-Myers lawsuits over the blood-thinner Plavix may now proceed to trial in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey.”