Seventh Circuit Holds Pharmaceutical Product Liability Claims Preempted By Federal Law
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held on January 19, 2018, that federal law preempts thousands of product liability claims, brought under the laws of various states, concerning Depo-T (a testosterone drug). Guilbeau v. Pfizer Inc., No. 17-2056 (7th Cir.). The case illuminates the intersection of tort law, federal regulation, and intellectual property.
Generally, a new drug must undergo a rigorous “new drug application” (NDA) process before the Food and Drug Administration will approve them for public use. The NDA process includes a laborious review to determine a drug’s safety and efficacy. If approved, a drug that has gone through the NDA process is considered a brand name drug and any drug made thereafter of the same composition will be considered a generic drug. The distinction between brand name and generic drugs implicates intellectual property rights, pricing, and obligations with respect to labeling.
If a second drug is considered to be the same as or bioequivalent to a drug approved through the NDA process, that second drug may be reviewed by the FDA under the “abbreviated new drug application” (ANDA) process. A drug approved through the ANDA process is generally considered a generic drug. However, in certain circumstances, a drug approved through the ANDA process is deemed to be the reference-listed drug (that is, the first drug of that physical composition to be approved by the FDA), and is therefore considered a brand name drug.
This case fell into those unusual circumstances. In 1953, Delatestryl (a testosterone replacement drug) was approved as a new drug by the Food and Drug Administration after NDA review. Then, in 1979, Depo-T was found to be the same as Delatestryl and was approved through the ANDA process. However, because Depo-T was slightly different in physical composition to Delatestryl, the FDA deemed it a separate reference-listed drug. Depo-T therefore became the brand-name drug for any later generic versions using its particular formulation.
In 2014, more than a thousand plaintiffs filed suit in several states, alleging that, after taking Depo-T as prescribed, they suffered heart attacks or strokes. The plaintiffs sued Pfizer, Inc. (the drug’s manufacturer), under the theory that the company failed to warn physicians and patients of the drug’s potentially fatal side effects. After those cases were consolidated and the district court concluded that the plaintiffs’ state-law claims were preempted by federal law, the plaintiffs appealed.
The Seventh Circuit held that Depo-T’s classification as a brand name drug was less important than its regulatory approval under the ANDA process. The plaintiffs argued that, because Depo-T is a reference-listed drug, Pfizer had a duty to warn prescribers and patients of any dangers and should, therefore, have updated its labels explaining the risks of heart attack and stroke as those risks were discovered. The court disagreed. Because Depo-T was approved under an ANDA, it was to be treated legally as if it were a generic drug.
Generic drugs are obligated to use a label that matches the one used by the corresponding brand name drug and cannot make changes absent FDA approval. As a result, manufacturers of generic drugs cannot be sued on the theory that their labels fail to contain information not included on the label of the corresponding brand name drug.
The Seventh Circuit cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing, 564 U.S. 604 (2011), which held that when federal drug regulations that apply to generic drugs conflict with state law claims, like failure to warn of adverse side effects, the state law is preempted. In other words, because Depo-T’s was approved through the ANDA process and its label conforms with what the FDA required, the state-law failure to warn state law claims against Pfizer are preempted by federal law. The court noted that the unusual fact of Depo-T being a reference listed drug while also having the legal status of a generic does not change the outcome here.
Laura Lamanskyis a law student at the University of Wisconsin and a law clerk working under supervision. She will be a full-time lawyer at Stafford Rosenbaum beginning later this year.
