Protection of the Drug companies- Re: Prescription For Trouble (on 60 minutes)

They will probably pass something like this for the USA, to protect the drug companies. There is something now where you can't sue vaccine mfgs.
Article-

Engler likes state's drug liability shield for U.S. model
By Robert Ankeny
November 29, 2004


A Michigan law that shields pharmaceutical manufacturers from product-liability damages could become a national model.

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, told Crain's that he would like to see the Bush administration push for laws to protect pharmaceutical companies from damage lawsuits over drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

Michigan law has the strongest such immunity in the country. Engler was governor when the law passed in 1995.

The issue of drug safety is in focus now after the recent recall by Merck & Co. Inc. of its pain medication Vioxx and the report this month by an FDA drug safety researcher to a Senate committee that at least five other FDA-approved prescription drugs should be retested for safety.

Detroit-based Charfoos & Christensen P.C. filed a lawsuit Nov. 18 in U.S. District Court in Detroit against New Jersey-based Merck and Vioxx on behalf of three Michigan residents. Each allegedly had a heart attack or stroke caused by Vioxx.

Because of Michigan's immunity law, the case is likely to be moved to another state and combined with others in a class action, said Charfoos attorney J. Douglas Peters.

Engler said his organization would be working on tort reform because "manufacturers, more than any other group, have a stake in reforming the legal system."

"I believe that for something like drugs, national standards make a lot of sense," Engler said. "Federal regulators such the FDA must do their job well, and we should be able to rely on them," he said.

"I think the Michigan law reflects a rational approach, and a federal law modeled after it would be a rational way to protect bringing new products to market," Engler said.

The Michigan law has been upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, said Peters, whose firm pursues malpractice and drug liability cases.

Michigan's product liability law says manufacturers and sellers of drugs that have received FDA approval are not liable unless their product is defective or unreasonably dangerous.

Peters is concerned Congress could grant drug companies immunity similar to Michigan's as part of more sweeping tort reform.

"Things really look bleak," Peters said, who predicts that strong national lobbying groups such as Engler's will work hard to pass a drug-liability immunity law.

Marjorie Powell, senior assistant general counsel for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing Association in Washington, said her organization supports a variety of reforms on liability issues, "and would not urge its defeat if something like this were introduced."

Republican gains of three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and four seats in the U.S. Senate effective in January should strengthen support for tort reforms long sought by President Bush.

Peters said one way to avoid federal tort reform on the drug question and other product liability is for plaintiff attorneys to only bring strong cases to court.

"But without individual lawsuits and discovery of documents allowed in such lawsuits, tomorrow's Vioxx case will go undiscovered, and the public health will be threatened," he said.

Robert Ankeny: (313) 446-0404, bankeny@crain.com


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