Third Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment for Pfizer in Zoloft MDL

A Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel recently upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims at summary judgment in a multi-district litigation involving Zoloft, an anti-depressant manufactured by Pfizer. The MDL involved 315 plaintiffs alleging that Zoloft causes cardiac birth defects when taken during early pregnancy. The decision, which upheld an earlier ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, has both good and bad aspects for defendants facing pharmaceutical product liability claims. The plaintiffs introduced several expert witnesses…
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Zoloft MDL Excludes on Daubert Grounds Plaintiffs’ Experts’ Opinions on General Causation

October 9, 2014
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Daubert
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Jill C. Owens

Last month the Pennsylvania federal judge presiding over the multi-district litigation in which the plaintiffs allege that the prescription anti-depressant Zoloft, taken during pregnancy, causes birth defects, issued another in an series of Daubert rulings on the plaintiffs’ proposed experts as to general causation. Although the defendant conceded the qualifications of the three research scientists whose expert evidence was being tested, the reliability of their general causation opinions was hotly contested and received a full evidentiary hearing. The Zoloft court’s rulings represent an important addition…
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January 2, 2014
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Product Liability Regulation to Watch in 2014 (subscription required)
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Recalls

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December 13, 2013
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Design Defect FDA Litigation Medical Device News Pharmaceuticals Product Liability Recalls Regulatory Settlements Verdicts
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December 1, 2013
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Design Defect FDA Litigation Medical Device News Nutritional Supplements Pharmaceuticals Product Liability Recalls Regulatory Settlements
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First Zoloft Trial in Federal MDL for Birth Defect Lawsuits to Begin Nov. 2014
J&J Takes Innovative,

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November 22, 2013
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Class Action Design Defect FDA Litigation Medical Device News Nutritional Supplements Pharmaceuticals Product Liability Recalls Regulatory Settlements Verdicts
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Remicade Lawsuit Filed Over Nerve Paralysis, Breathing Problems
GNC Hit with Suit Linking Supplement to Hepatitis (subscription required)
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3^rd Cir. Affirms Plavix

First New York Court Rejects Controversial Drug Developer Liability Rule

Michael D. Shalhoub

In a controversial 2008 decision in Conte v. Wyeth, Inc., 168 Cal. App. 4th 89 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008), a California Court of Appeals held defendant drug developer, Wyeth, Inc., liable for inadequate warnings in connection with the plaintiff’s use of a competitor’s generic version of the gastrointestinal reflux drug Reglan. The court in Conte held “the common law duty to use due care owed by a name-brand prescription drug manufacturer when providing product warnings extends not only to consumers of its own product,…
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