Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a user of its diabetes drug, Mounjaro, who claims she developed severe stomach issues and that there should have been a warning about the risk of those side effects on the drug’s warning label.
In a motion filed Oct. 30, Eli Lilly & Co. said that the lawsuit brought by Jaclyn Bjorklund should be tossed because there is, in fact, clear messaging about the risks on the label. According to Law360, the plaintiff’s lawsuit accounts for a “scattershot pleading” and failed to "make a single factual allegation" specific to the drug.
"The prescribing behavior and express warranty allegations similarly lump defendants together," according to the motion. "And the purported causes and onset of plaintiff's alleged injuries are likewise collectivized; for example, plaintiff does not allege whether and to what extent she claims the injuries were caused by Mounjaro."
Before she started taking Mounjaro, Bjorklund used another diabetes drug, Ozempic, which has become popular for its appetite-suppressant effects. Bjorklund claims that Ozempic, another Eli Lilly drug, caused severe issues before she started taking Mounjaro.
Eli Lilly argued that because Mounjaro’s FDA-approved label says the medicine may carry a risk of severe gastrointestinal problems and warns healthcare professionals not to prescribe it to patients who have already experienced gastrointestinal problems, the lawsuit has no merit.
In addition to the clear warnings on the label, Eli Lilly claimed that articles in medical literature, as well as mainstream media, should have provided another layer of warnings. Due to the common knowledge of the risks of Mounjaro, Bjorklund’s failure-to-warn claim is barred by the “learned intermediary doctrine” in Louisiana, where the lawsuit was filed.
"In addition, to the extent there was an additional duty to warn, the claim still fails under the learned intermediary doctrine because plaintiff does not sufficiently allege that a different warning would have altered her physician's prescribing decision," Eli Lilly contends, per Law360.
Several thousand Mounjaro claims are being investigated, and the litigation is in its early phases; no trials have been scheduled and no settlement talks have transpired.
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