Victory for Big Pharma: Texas Adopts “Learned Intermediary” Rule

Big Pharma had a major victory on June 8th, when the Texas Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Centocor, Inc. v. Hamilton.  The Court held that “When a drug manufacturer properly warns a prescribing physician of the dangerous propensities of its product, the manufacturer is excused from warning each patient who receives the drug. The doctor stands as a learned intermediary between the manufacturer and the ultimate consumer.”  Further, “A prescription drug manufacturer fulfills its duty to warn end users of its product’s risks by providing adequate warnings to the intermediaries who prescribe the drug and, once fulfilled, it has no further duty to warn the end users directly.”

This means that a drug company can avoid liability for its dangerous products after they’ve told the doctor of dangerous side affects.  The court in this case also reversed a $3.6 Million dollar judgement against Johnson & Johnson for victims of the drug Remicade.