Law Doesn't Extend Drug Maker's Duty to Consumer, Judge Rules

ATLANTA - A federal judge has refused to expand a drug manufacturer's duty to warn for suicide-related side effects associated with its product, finding that courts have only extended the duty as far as the physicians who prescribe the drug. Porter v. Eli Lilly and Co., No. 06-1297 (N.D. Ga.).

Judge Owen Forrester of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia stopped short in his Feb. 25 decision of holding that, under Georgia law, Eli Lilly had an obligation to warn consumers directly about suicide risks associated with its drug Prozac.

Requiring a consumer warning, despite …