Report claims DTC ads fuel drug litigation

Research into the "explosion" of drug-related product liability law suits in the USA by specialist firm Thomson West has been published in the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Among the findings, the study's authors recorded 71,000 tort law suits concerning prescription drugs in the federal courts since 2001. These numbers are estimated to have been dwarfed by the "untold others" being dealt with in state courts.

The media reporting focussed extensively on the legal consequences of US drug major Merck & Co's COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx (rofecoxib; Marketletters passim). The direct-to-consumer advertizing approach which, according to the LA Times, "begot the era of blockbuster drugs," was also the opportunity for "blockbuster liability." Vioxx was reportedly used by 20 million patients before the product was withdrawn in late 2004. The Thomson West researchers found 23,500 law suits concerning the drug, almost a third of the total.