WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will next week consider a case that has the potential to upend how drug companies can defend themselves from patient lawsuits.
The case, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Doris Albrecht, began as a collection of lawsuits by more than a thousand patients who used the osteoporosis drug Fosamax. The patients say the drug maker failed to adequately warn them that taking the drug might make them more likely to fracture their femurs.
this seems pretty black and white. Merck cannot communicate anything off-label about their drugs. They asked FDA to update their label. FDA determined there was insufficient evidence to make that update, and it appears any update related to bone fractures.
I suspect if the lower court had ruled MSD wasn’t liable, the SCOTUS would not have taken this case. They took it to straighten out a clear wrong decision.
I feel terrible for the suffering, including I assume disability, that some patients taking Fosamax have experienced. And FDA should probably have acted differently. If anyone is at blame here it’s them. But there’s no $$ in suing FDA, is there?