W. Va. Federal Judge Strikes Forest Labs’ Learned Intermediary Defense in Lexapro Suicide Case

WHEELING, W. Va. — A West Virginia federal judge has granted a plaintiff’s motion to strike a drug maker’s learned intermediary defense in a Lexapro suicide case, noting the state’s high court has expressly declined to adopt the learned intermediary doctrine.

On July 15, Judge Irene M. Keeley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia rejected the drug maker’s argument that the state high court’s rejection of the doctrine is not limited to cases that present evidence of direct-to-consumer advertising.

In 2006, Tammy Muzichuck sued Forest Laboratories Inc. in the Marion County (W. Va.) Circuit …