Pfizer Wins Preemption Motion To Dismiss In SDNY

Dechert client Pfizer prevailed on a motion to dismiss in a products liability action in the Southern District of New York. The motion related to claims filed by 24 plaintiffs alleging that Lipitor, a top-selling anti-cholesterol drug, causes Type 2 diabetes. A New York federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice on Tuesday, April 7, finding all claims barred by federal preemption under the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the three-year New York statute of limitations, or both.

Plaintiffs filed the case in April 2019, alleging that Pfizer failed to warn in the Lipitor label that the medicine can cause Type 2 diabetes. Pfizer denies this claim, and the Court held that plaintiffs failed to allege that there was any information after 2012 indicating a causal link between Lipitor and Type 2 diabetes that would have allowed Pfizer to change the medication’s labels under FDA regulations. In addition, the court held that any claims that accrued prior to 2016 were barred by the statute of limitations.

The Dechert team representing Pfizer was led by PLMT partner Mark Cheffo and included PLMT partners Rachel Passaretti-Wu and Mara Cusker Gonzalez, and associates Lincoln Wilson, who argued the motion, and Justin Kadoura. Dechert’s product liability group represents Pfizer nationally and has secured a number of significant victories nationwide in Lipitor cases, including in an MDL in the District of South Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Missouri, and in Michigan.

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