California bill would eliminate “learned intermediary” defense
Executive Summary
A bill introduced in California Feb. 22 would declare that "manufacturers of prescription pharmaceutical products shall not be relieved of a duty to warn consumers of the risks and side effects solely because the product was prescribed to a patient by a physician." This would strip away the learned intermediary defense, which holds that a drug manufacturer does not need to warn each patient of a product's risks if it warns the prescribing physician. The West Virginia Supreme Court is the only court that has rejected the doctrine (1"The Pink Sheet," Nov. 26, 2007, p. 15)