What is the status of the Supreme Court case involving pharmaceuticals?
On March 4, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision of a Vermont jury in favor of Diana Levine, who lost her arm to gangrene because of an anti-nausea drug. In Wyeth v. Levine, plaintiff Wyeth Pharmaceuticals argued that federal preemption applies based on FDA approval of the warning label on its anti-nausea drug Phenergan. Defendant Levine had been awarded $7.4 million by a Vermont jury because of Wyeth’s inadequate and out-of-date warning label. The significance of this case is substantial because if the decision had favored Wyeth, it would have set a precedent for federal preemption in claims based on unsafe pharmaceuticals in addition to the previous decision related to faulty medical devices. Instead, the Court’s reasoning in Wyeth v. Levine helps substantiate arguments against federal preemption when patients and families are devastated by harmful medical devices.
