Reglan Lawsuit Preempted by Judge
On February 3, 2012, a judge in Vermont decided to issue an order in plaintiff Ethel Kellogg’s Reglan lawsuit. Kellogg's suit previously was stayed while a related ruling was pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kellogg’s Reglan lawsuit began when she started taking the generic version of the controversial acid reflux drug (metoclopramide) from 2000 to mid-2004. She used the drug to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Taking the drug caused Kellogg to suffer from a common ailment linked to Reglan, tardive dyskinesia (TD). TD is a neurological condition that causes patients to suffer from involuntary movements of the extremities, gum smacking, grimacing, lip smacking and other Parkinson’s-like symptoms. The condition is often permanent and debilitating.
Research has shown that Reglan — when taken for periods longer than 12 weeks — increases patients’ chances of developing TD. That is what caused the FDA to issue a black box warning against the medication in 2009. For her lawsuit, Kellogg claimed that the makers of the generic version of Reglan are state mandated to give proper warning of the risks linked to taking metoclopramide’s serious adverse side effects but failed to do so.
However, one glitch in her lawsuit came down on June 23, 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the PLIVA Inc. v. Mensing case that “because federal law requires generic drug label information to be identical to the label of the brand-name drug, that state-law failure-to-warn claims are preempted by the federal requirements.” That decision caused the defendants in Kellogg’s case to argue that her own claims in state court should be pre-empted. Apparently, Judge William K. Sessions III agreed and ruled in favor of the defendants.
So many plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against the makers of generic and name brand version of Reglan because of the links to TD. There is plenty of research available to verify their claims, as well. If you developed TD after being prescribed Reglan, contact an attorney right away to see what your options are.
