Plaintiffs have secured what is being touted as a huge win in the generic Reglan lawsuits because Judge Sandra Mazer Moss in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court has decided to deny the defendants’ bid to have all of the claims against them dismissed.
The lawsuits are a part of a mass tort that is currently happening in Pennsylvania. The defendants’ motion for a dismissal was to be based on the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in the Pliva v. Mensing case. In that case, it was decided that generic manufacturers do not have to face drug injury cases after making generic versions of name brand name drugs as long as the warning labels were the same as the original. However, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, Judge Moss refused to allow generic drug makers to get away scott free in the many Reglan lawsuits in Pennsylvania. That is great news for the plaintiffs, who will now get to be heard in court.
There have been thousands of lawsuits filed against drug makers of Reglan and generic versions of Reglan after plaintiffs have been developing tardive dyskinesia while taking the drug for longer than the time recommended by the FDA (12 weeks). The acid reflux drug makers have all been accused of not properly warning patients of the dangers linked to the drug before they started taking it. Patients with tardive dyskinesia suffer from symptoms including: involuntary puckering and smacking of the lips, grimacing, fluttering of the eyes, etc.
Now that Moss has allowed plaintiffs to continue on with their generic Reglan lawsuits, at least they have a chance at receiving compensation for the often permanent condition that they have to deal with. Hopefully, in allowing these cases to go to trial, the drug makers will finally understand that they will be held liable for the pain and suffering they cause patients that take their drugs.
