On Friday, September 11, CCL Chief Litigation Counsel Louis M. Bograd argued in the US District Court for the Southern District of California that no federal preemption defense warrants summary judgment against more than 1,000 plaintiffs who have developed pancreatic cancer as a result of their use of incretin mimetic drugs manufactured or distributed by defendants Merck, Eli Lilly, Amylin, and Novo Nordisk as treatment for Type 2 diabetes. The motions were heard in connection with the ongoing MDL proceeding before Judge Battaglia in the District Court and the ongoing JCCP proceeding before Judge Highberger in California state court. Both judges presided over the four-hour hearing, which involved three separate summary judgment motions relating to the affirmative defense of federal preemption. Bograd argued that there was no “clear evidence” that the FDA would have rejected a properly supported Changes Being Effected Supplement to add the risk of pancreatic cancer to the approved labeling for the defendants’ incretin mimetic drugs. Both courts took the motions under advisement and are expected to rule in the coming months.
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