In a boost to Merck (MRK), the U.S. solicitor general is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case that has broad ramifications for lawsuits filed by consumers against drug makers over product warnings.
At issue are hundreds of lawsuits that were filed more than seven years ago by women who claim they suffered bone fractures after taking Fosamax, a Merck drug used to combat osteoporosis. Last year, a federal appeals court overturned a lower court and decided the lawsuits should proceed.
But as we noted at the time, the appeals court took a contentious stance by deciding that federal law did not preempt state laws that allow consumers to sue a drug maker for failing to warn about the risk of a medicine. And so Merck is asking the Supreme Court to examine preemption — the notion that federal law takes precedent when federal and state laws conflict.
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