JPML Creates Federal Docket for Oral Decongestant Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created a federal docket for lawsuits alleging that makers of over-the-counter oral decongestants knew the drugs’ active ingredient, pseudoephedrine, is essentially a placebo, yet marketed them as effective.

On Dec. 6, the panel transferred the pending cases to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and tapped Judge Brian M. Cogan to oversee the docket.

The panel agreed with the moving plaintiffs that the actions allege substantially the same wrongful conduct on the part of the named defendants, which include Procter & Gamble, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline …