Drug Maker Can be Held Liable for Injuries Sustained After NDA Sold, Calif. Appeals Court Rules

SAN DIEGO — Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. can be held liable for injuries caused by its brand-name asthma drug to twins in utero following their mother’s ingestion of the drug’s generic form nearly six years after Novartis sold its interest in the drug, a California appellate court has ruled.

In a March 9 order, the California Court of Appeal, 4th District, ruled that if plaintiffs can prove Novartis failed to adequately warn about the drug’s risks before it divested the product in 2001, they may be able to establish the drug maker’s conduct bore some direct relationship to the alleged harm.