LANSING – In reaction to today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling against absolute immunity for drug companies, House Democrats today vowed to fast track legislation to protect residents from dangerous drugs.
"Victims of dangerous drugs still do not have a voice in Michigan," said State Representative Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. "FDA approval is not a good enough excuse to strip residents of their right to hold the drug industry accountable when its products harm or kill. It's time we start putting our residents' health and safety ahead of the powerful special interests and their deep pockets."
The move comes on the heels of today's Supreme Court decision that ruled federal law does not block legal action against drug companies on the state level when their products harm or kill. The ruling came in the case of a woman who sued after an injection of an anti-nausea drug caused her to lose her arm to gangrene.
Currently, Michigan is the only state in the nation that gives drug companies total immunity when their products harm or kill consumers. House Democrats have been fighting for four years for a plan that 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 if the drug in question has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Make the repeal retroactive so that residents harmed by dangerous drugs since 1996 can hold drug companies accountable.
- Include big drug companies in the Consumer Protection Act, from which they are currently exempt.
The plan passed the House two years ago, but was blocked in the Republican-led Senate. The plan has been re-introduced in the Michigan House this legislative session.
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. (1)
Bextra was taken off the market by drug maker Pfizer in 2005 due to an increased risk of heart attack and serious skin reactions among the painkiller's users. 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. (2) However, Michigan victims were prevented from holding the company accountable.
"Michigan is the only state in the country that gives drug companies total immunity when their products harm or kill our citizens," said State Representative Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield). "That's completely unacceptable. We must take action to protect our residents and overturn this shameful law."
(1) Anstett, Patricia and Norris, Kim. "Michigan Rezulin lawsuits tossed," Detroit Free Press, Feb. 25, 2005.
(2) Graham testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Nov. 18, 2004.