Reglan lawsuits are still getting a lot of attention lately as lawyers are waiting anxiously for a Supreme Court decision about whom is to be held liable for Reglan side effects.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will be the deciding factor in whether the makers of brand name Reglan or the makers of generic metoclopramide will hold the blame for a failure to properly warn the public about the side effects of taking Reglan for longer than the 12 weeks that is recommended by the FDA. Lawyers on both sides of the argument have been waiting for this answer for a while now, and will likely not get the final decision handed down by the Supreme Court until July. However, the final answer to the question of blame is even more complicated because everyone is wondering whether state or federal law will govern the actions of the drug makers in the future.
If you don’t recall, the case that I’m talking about is Pliva Inc. v. Mensing. Two plaintiffs in the case developed tardive dyskinesia after taking the generic form of Reglan which was manufactured by Pliva Inc. The judges on the Supreme Court have made their opinions known in this case and are divided. Right now federal laws don’t force generic drug makers to list warnings on the labels, but state laws do, and that is what makes this decision by the Supreme Court so interesting.
With so many lawsuits against Wyeth, the makers of brand name Reglan, by patients that are developing tardive dyskinesia, the makers of metoclopramide will want to know if they will be able to be held liable for adverse side effects. It is only fair that generic drug makers get some of the blame since they are capitalizing on the potentially harmfully drugs, so they may as well be willing to pay for some of the damages.
