Judge: Learned Intermediary Doesn't Protect Sales Reps from Vioxx Claim

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The learned intermediary doctrine does not preclude plaintiffs in a Vioxx case from seeking damages against pharmaceutical sales representatives who allegedly misrepresented the drug's safety profile to prescribing physicians, a judge in Texas has held. Salazar v. Merck & Co. Inc., et al., No. 05-445 (S.D. Texas).

In a Nov. 2 decision, Judge Janis Graham Jack of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that allegations of negligent misrepresentation contained in the plaintiffs' complaint put the sales representatives 'outside the protective realm' of the doctrine, which in Texas only applies where adequate …