Drug Makers Near an Old Goal: A Legal Shield

[Bozita]

Source: NY Times


April 6, 2008
Drug Makers Near an Old Goal: A Legal Shield

By GARDINER HARRIS and ALEX BERENSON

For years, Johnson & Johnson obscured evidence that its popular Ortho Evra birth control patch delivered much more estrogen than standard birth control pills, potentially increasing the risk of blood clots and strokes, according to internal company documents.

But because the Food and Drug Administration approved the patch, the company is arguing in court that it cannot be sued by women who claim that they were injured by the product — even though its old label inaccurately described the amount of estrogen it released.

This legal argument is called pre-emption. After decades of being dismissed by courts, the tactic now appears to be on the verge of success, lawyers for plaintiffs and drug companies say.

The Bush administration has argued strongly in favor of the doctrine, which holds that the F.D.A. is the only agency with enough expertise to regulate drug makers and that its decisions should not be second-guessed by courts. The Supreme Court is to rule on a case next term that could make pre-emption a legal standard for drug cases. The court already ruled in February that many suits against the makers of medical devices like pacemakers are pre-empted.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/washington/06patch.html?hp

[fed-up]

1. being a DES daughter I have a pissy attitude towards the FDA...nt

[annabanana]

2. They can take away our right to sue? Great! Push badly tested,

highly profitable dangerous drugs onto the market... then don't allow people to sue if someone DIES from it...

[pattmarty]

5. Back in the USSR................

[angrycarpenter]

3. So can you sue the FDA for approving it?

Didn't think so.

[Lithos]

4. Bush and his group

Pulled this kind of crap in Texas where they took away most legal recourses against shoddy and unethical business practices. Essentially resulted in some of the largest corporate welfare and blood money. In one instance, they reduced the liability such that it was easier for a company to lie to an employee working in a hazardous condition, have them die and/or get injured, and then pay the maximum of $100K that they could be fined.

[Nevernose]

6. "the F.D.A. is the only agency with enough expertise to regulate drug makers"

"...The F.D.A. is the only agency with enough expertise to regulate drug makers..."

Shouldn't the drug makers have the expertise to regulate themselves? Seems like common sense that the people who invented the drug should know the most about it. Of course, Republicans don't give a shit about what's right, only what's profitable, and they'll twist anything and everything to make themselves richer.

[JCMach1]

7. BS: all I can say is "Dalcon Shield" and my mother

wandering into my room delirious from peritonitis.

She nearly died when I was 9 from this.


F%^k the drug makers!

If they want the government to take responsibility, then let the government control the pricing. Prices in the US Market are insanely high.

[lostnfound]

8. Richard Grossman's solution - Community Legal Defense Fund & constitutional amendment

I swear the new motto is "Victims to be blamed for everything, corporations unaccountable."

We need to attack this problem at its root. Listening to a Richard Grossman speech at TUCradio.org last night, he makes a good analogy to the abolition of slavery. We are constantly fighting isolated battles against the excesses of corporate rule (environmental, in particular, but others like this one), but need to have constitutional amendment that will provide strength, protection and clarity for those battles. Citizens banded together, and local governments, have little or no power in the face of corporate rights.

You can find links to a tape of the program here: http://www.tucradio.org/new.html Scroll down or 'control F' to find Grossman.

Richard Grossman
WHEN INJUSTICE IS LEGAL
WHAT DO THE ABOLITIONISTS TEACH US ABOUT CHALLENGING CORPORATE RULE
Grossman describes how corporations usurped many of the rights that are properly due to human beings and have become the dominant institutions or our time – and how that dominance needs to be challenged in the constitutional arena.

He proposes how to bring about the changes in self-governance, be it energy, agriculture, transportation, peace or environmental protection by directly challenging the law.

Richard Grossman is co-founder of CELDF, the Community Legal Defense Fund. CELDF was formed to provide free and affordable legal services to community-based groups and local governments working to protect their quality of life and the natural environment. They help mount campaigns that challenge the legal clout of corporations to overrule decisions made by citizens for their communities and for a sustainable future. <http://www.celdf.org/>

[Vinca]

9. Shrub's parting gift to big pharma. nt

[AwakeAtLast]

10. The next thalidomide is right on the horizon

:puke: When are people going to wake up? :puke: