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Aredia & Zometa Cases
11/1/2008
Attorneys across the country have been filing cases against Novartis since 2005. There are currently about 400 cases pending in Nashville, Tennessee, where the cases have been centralized for pre-trial purposes. Please note that this is not a class action, and that every case is an individual case. Although the cases are currently being prosecuted in Nashville, they will be remanded to each plaintiff's home state if the cases go to trial.
The plaintiffs are nearly finished with their discovery of Novartis. They have obtained some 12 million pages of documents and taken the depositions of more than 50 current and former Novartis employees. Another dozen depositions are scheduled. Plaintiffs also have obtained documents from, and taken the depositions of, several non-party individuals and entities, including some physicians who were paid by Novartis to promote its drugs and some of the companies who prepared presentations given by Novartis to the Food and Drug Administration.
On October 6, 2008, plaintiffs sent to Novartis the reports of nine expert witnesses. These experts work in the areas of epidemiology, pharmacovigilance, oncology, FDA protocol and chemistry. Novartis has until December 3, 2008 to serve its own expert witness reports. This process will be followed by the depositions of all of the experts, which will take a few months and is scheduled to be completed by April 2009.
Ten cases have been selected by the parties to be the first cases to go to trial. Unfortunately, due to the number of discovery and expert witness matters that need to be concluded, there likely will not be any trials before the Spring of 2009, if by then. Plaintiffs tried to pursue a mediation program on behalf of those clients who were deceased or critically ill. Unfortunately, Novartis refused to participate in any such program and the Court declined to compel Novartis to do so. However, more recently, the Court encouraged the parties to select a mediator with the hope of achieving a resolution of all of the cases, and a mediator has been agreed upon.
FOSAMAX CASES
There are approximately 250 cases pending against Fosamax. These cases are all pending before Judge Keenan in New York. Like the cases against Novartis, the Fosamax cases are not a class action. Each case is an individual case and cannot be settled or resolved without the client's permission.
Discovery in the Fosamax cases is not as advanced as discovery in the Aredia and Zometa cases. About two million documents have been produced and about six Merck employees have been deposed. Nevertheless, Judge Keenan already has scheduled three ³bell weather² trials, with the first trial set to begin August 11, 2009. Between now and then, plaintiffs expect to complete their review of the documents, depose additional Merck employees, and obtain the reports of a number of expert witnesses, just like the plaintiffs did in the Aredia and Zometa cases.
ACTONEL CASES
There are approximately 20 cases pending against Proctor & Gamble relating to its bisphosphonate, Actonel. These cases also are being overseen by Judge Keenan in federal court in New York. No Scheduling Order has been entered by the Court, but it is anticipated that one will be soon. These cases are likely to trail the proceedings in either or both of the other two MDLs.
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