LANSING – With the support of Michigan residents who have been harmed by dangerous prescription drugs, House Democrats today moved one step closer to repealing a state law that gives drug companies immunity when their products harm or kill.
"Michigan is the only state in nation that protects big drug companies when their products harm or kill," said State Representative Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield). "The people of Michigan deserve the same consumer protections that every other state guarantees for its citizens. We must take action now to put an end to special protections for the big drug companies and make sure that people are put before profits."
The House Judiciary Committee today approved three bills that will repeal Michigan's drug industry immunity law and allow citizens who have been harmed to hold drug companies accountable. The plan will:
- Repeal a 1996 law granting immunity to drug companies. Passed by then-Governor John Engler and the Republican-controlled Legislature, the law gives companies complete immunity in Michigan when their products harm or kill if the drug has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Make the repeal retroactive so Michigan residents who have been harmed by dangerous drugs since 1996 can hold drug companies accountable.
- Include drug companies in the Consumer Protection Act, from which they are exempt.
"For more than a decade, Michigan residents have been silenced by Michigan's unfair drug industry immunity law," said State Representative Deb Kennedy (D-Brownstown). "When a person is ill or in pain, they should be able to trust that the medication prescribed by their doctor will make them feel better. We know now that some medications can have deadly effects. This plan will empower our residents to hold drug companies accountable when their products destroy their health or kill a loved one."
House Democrats have been fighting to repeal drug immunity since 2005. The House took action to end drug industry immunity in 2007, but the plan met with opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate.
In 2005 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 failure1. 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. 2Bextra was taken off the market in 2005 due to an increased risk of heart attack and serious skin reactions among the painkiller's users.
In the wake of scandals surrounding drugs such as Vioxx, Rezulin and Bextra, there have been revelations that members of FDA drug-approval boards have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The public testimony of FDA scientists such as Dr. David Graham has indicated that the FDA's system for drug evaluation is "broken."3
"Michigan is the only state in the nation to have a drug-industry protection act – at devastating cost to our consumers," said State Representative Dian Slavens (D-Canton). "We must take action to hold drug companies to the same standard as any other business in Michigan. We have to send a clear message: If you sell a product that harms or kills, you must be held accountable."
Recent action in the U.S. Supreme Court and in Georgia has called attention to the flaws in Michigan's drug industry immunity law.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 4 that a drug manufacturer is responsible for the content of its label if the product causes harm or death, despite FDA approval of the label.4 The ruling came in the case of a woman who took action to hold drug maker Wyeth accountable when she lost her arm to gangrene after being injected with an anti-nausea medication.
Georgia's Governor proposed a drug industry immunity law for that state that would be similar to Michigan. The measure met with opposition from the Republican-controlled Senate. An editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the plan a "poison pill" that would "create a liability-free haven for drugmakers."5
"We've taken a significant step today toward holding drug companies accountable," said State Representative Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. "This plan will be fast-tracked in the House, and sent to the Senate without delay. Our residents have gone without justice for far too long. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to take a stand for our residents and take quick action on our plan to end drug industry immunity when it comes to the Senate floor."
1 Anstett, Patricia and Norris, Kim. "Michigan Rezulin lawsuits tossed," Detroit Free Press,
Feb. 25, 2005
2 Testimony of David Graham, associate director for science and medicine in the FDA Office of Drug Safety,
before the Senate Finance Committee, Nov. 18, 2004
3 Graham testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Nov. 18, 2004
4 U.S. Supreme Court, Wyeth v. Levine, March 4, 2009
5 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Drugmaker immunity is a poison pill," Jan. 14, 2009