When Can Patients Sue Drug Companies?

Vol. 34 No. 5 • May 2009 • P&T® 243 (see the April issue of P&T, page 175). Ms. Levine sued and received a settlement from the clinic where the drug was administered. She also named Wyeth as a defendant, claiming that the drug’s label should have more clearly instructed clinicians against using an IV push injection. The label, which the FDA had approved, warned about inadvertent intra-arterial injection but did not explicitly rule it out as a means of administration. The suit claimed that Wyeth had a duty to provide a stronger warning on its own initiative. She was successful at trial and was awarded $6.7 million. Wyeth appealed, and the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.