N.J. Judge Dismisses 31 Cases in Accutane Mass Tort, Citing Learned Intermediary Doctrine

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The judge overseeing the Accutane mass tort docket in New Jersey has dismissed 31 cases in which the plaintiffs’ prescribing doctors said they would have prescribed the acne drug even if the accompanying warning had been different.

On Jan. 29, Judge Nelson C. Johnson of the Atlantic County (N.J.) Superior Court granted Hoffman-LaRoche’s omnibus motions for summary judgment based on lack of proximate cause in certain ingestion cases arising in New Jersey, Kansas, Louisiana, California and Texas.

In its motions, Roche relied upon the learned intermediary doctrine, which provides that a manufacturer has fulfilled its …