Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer BlogArizona Supreme Court to Decide Applicability of Learned Intermediary Doctrine in Acne Medication Lawsuit
In Watts v. Medicis Pharmaceuticals, the plaintiff was prescribed a course of treatment involving the drug Solodyn for her chronic acne. According to the plaintiff, she received two publications providing information about the drug. The first document was a MediSAVE card that outlined a program for discounted purchases of the drug and warned that the drug’s safety beyond a 12-week period had not been studied. The second document was an information insert provided at the pharmacy, detailing Solodyn’s possible side effects and safety conditions. The insert also instructed takers of the drug to contact their physician if any side effects or symptoms persisted past a 12-week period.
According to the plaintiff, the two pieces of information provided to her, the card and the insert, did not bear the same warnings and possible side effects as the FDA-approved patient label or the full prescribing information that the medical provider received with Solodyn. According to the full prescribing information, for example, the drug could potentially lead to autoimmune hepatitis or a lupus-like syndrome when the drug was ingested over a long period of time.