ACE Inhibitor Claims Based on Failure to Warn Preempted, Judge Says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A federal judge has dismissed as preempted a plaintiffs' claims based on Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp.'s alleged failure to warn that its ACE inhibitor Lotensin could cause injury to fetuses when taken in the first trimester of pregnancy. Horne v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., No. 06-368 (W.D. N.C.).

Judge Martin Reidinger of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina ruled March 25 that the state law failure-to-warn claims conflict with federal laws governing drug labeling and that it would have been impossible for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. to have complied with the FDA's labeling requirement and …