Learned Intermediary Doctrine Bars Risperdal Action, Del. Federal Judge Rules

WILMINGTON, Del. — The learned intermediary doctrine defeats claims that Janssen failed to warn of Risperdal’s risks because the plaintiff’s prescribing doctor testified that a different warning would not have changed his decision to prescribe the drug.

On April 11, Judge Richard Andrews of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware further noted Janssen presented ample evidence that the Risperdal label adequately warned of gynecomastia.

Patterson Green was first prescribed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal in March 2002, and he remained on the drug until 2007. Green also took an injectable form of Risperdal between November 2008 and December …