Novartis Denied Summary Judgment on OPLA Claims in Aredia/Zometa ONJ Case

CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge has denied Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp.’s (NYSE: NVS) motion for summary judgment on claims brought under the Ohio Products Liability Act in an Aredia/Zometa case, finding questions of fact as to whether the drug maker adequately warned that the drugs can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw.

On Sept. 19, Judge Walter H. Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio further ruled that although the plaintiff’s retained expert may testify as to specific causation, her treating physicians may not.

After Barbara Bowles was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1997, her oncologists …