Plaintiff’s Failure to File Fact Sheet Does Not Warrant Dismissal of Zometa Case, Tenn. Judge Rules

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge has denied Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s (NYSE: NVS) motion to dismiss a Zometa case, ruling that the plaintiff’s failure to timely submit a plaintiff’s fact sheet did not prejudice the drug maker and therefore does not warrant dismissal.

On May 21, Judge Samuel H. Mays Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee further found the plaintiff was not adequately warned that failure to timely file the PFS would result in dismissal.

Ronald Tatum sued Novartis in April 2011, alleging that his Zometa treatments caused him to develop osteonecrosis of …