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LANSING – The House Judiciary Committee today passed a package of bills that will end the absolute immunity enjoyed by the pharmaceutical industry in Michigan and allow consumers to hold big drug companies accountable when dangerous drugs such as Vioxx harm or kill. The bills are now headed to the House Floor for a full vote.

"Today we're giving the victims of dangerous drugs a voice," said State Representative Paul Condino (D-Southfield), who chairs the Judiciary Committee. "The drug industry and its allies blocked every attempt to get these bills out of committee for nearly two years. I'm pleased to move legislation forward that will put the people of Michigan ahead of wealthy special interests. These bills deserve a full vote before the Michigan House of Representatives."

The package of bills will:

• Repeal a 1996 law granting legal immunity to drug companies. Passed by then-Governor John Engler and the Republican-controlled Legislature, the law gives companies complete immunity from legal action so long as the drug in question has been approved for safety and efficacy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Make the repeal retroactive so that Michigan residents harmed by dangerous drugs since 1996 can seek legal recourse.
• Include big drug companies in the Consumer Protection Act, from which they are currently exempted.

"Michigan is the only state in the nation that gives pharmaceutical companies a free ride when their products harm or kill," said State Representative Mike Simpson (D-Liberty Township), who is the lead sponsor of the bill to repeal drug immunity. "Our residents shouldn't be treated as second-class citizens simply because they live in Michigan. We must give them the power to hold drug companies accountable."

In the wake of scandals surrounding drugs such as Vioxx, Rezulin and Bextra, there have been revelations that many members of FDA drug-approval boards have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. House Democrats said Michigan residents cannot blindly trust the FDA and must be able to hold the drug companies accountable when harmful drugs make it to the market. The public testimony of FDA scientists such as Dr. David Graham indicate that the FDA's system for drug evaluation is "broken."^[i]

"For too long, our residents have been put at risk by FDA-approved drugs such as Vioxx and Rezulin, only to discover that they're on their own," said State Representative Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard), whose bill will make the repeal retroactive. "Michigan consumers deserve legal recourse when a dangerous drug makes it through the FDA's screening process and is later proven to be unsafe."

House Democrats have been fighting to repeal drug immunity since 2005, when claims by 187 Michigan residents against Warner-Lambert, maker of the diabetes drug Rezulin, were dismissed by a New York federal court judge because of the Michigan law. Rezulin was pulled off the market in 2000 after it was linked to nearly 400 deaths and thousands of cases of liver failure.^[ii]

Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug that its maker, Merck, pulled off the market in 2004, may have caused heart attacks or cardiac deaths in up to 139,000 Americans, based on Merck's own studies.^[iii] Bextra was taken off the market in 2005 due to an increased risk of heart attack and serious skin reactions among the painkiller's users.  

"Michigan is the only place where drug companies are not held to the same consumer-protection standards that other businesses are," said State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores), whose bill will add drug companies to the Consumer Protection Act. "Michigan consumers deserve a voice. We must put their needs ahead of wealthy special interests."