Rezulin Suits Dismissed by Judge

By Elizabeth Rhein

Published on August 23, 2006

The 28 cases in question are part of pending multidistrict litigation against Rezulin in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Initially, plaintiffs were allowed to submit their own experiences as expert testimony; they alleged that Rezulin caused silent liver damage in the form of elevating liver enzymes to nearly twice their normal levels.

In response to motions filed by the defendant companies -- drugmakers Pfizer, Warner-Lambert, and Parke-Davis -- Judge Lewis A. Kaplan reversed his stance and disallowed the proposed expert testimony from the witnesses. His reasoning was that each of their reports failed to adequately prove a cause-and-effect link between Rezulin and silent liver damage. Some of the opinions had been rejected in a previous court review of the case.

Rezulin was available on the market from 1997 to 2000. During that time, the diabetes drug showed a consistent tendency to cause severe liver toxicity.

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