Tasigna Lawsuits Centralized Before A Federal Jury

Introduction

On August 10, 2021, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized 18 Tasigna lawsuits in multi-district litigation for a coordinated discovery of testimony and evidence alleging Novartis’ drug causes cardiovascular disease.

Tasigna lawsuits which are now part of a new MDL will be presided by U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton of the Middle District of Florida.

The lawsuits filed by plaintiffs have a common allegation that the use of the chronic myeloid leukemia drug Tasigna leads to atherosclerotic injuries.

The attorneys representing the company said that only four cases were filed since the start of this year, and 20 cases were filed just a day before out of the 186 pending cases in the New Jersey state court's multicounty litigation.

One of the plaintiff's attorneys said that consolidating the cases in New Jersey will prevent inconsistent discovery rulings. Another cancer patient's attorney supported the statement.

The defendant's attorney responded by stating that there would not be a risk of inconsistent rulings, as an agreement specifies there will be only one discovery production in the case.

The defendant's attorney supported that the lawsuits should be sent to Florida court, as most of the suits are filed there. He even claimed that even though Tasigna causes cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral arterial disease, the fact cannot be ignored that the drug is the first thing to be used for the treatment of the disease. He even informed that these diseases are the number-one cause of mortality in the United States.

Earlier, one of the plaintiffs filed a motion on April 14 with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize all the Tasigna lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois for a common outcome.

Tasigna is marketed by Novartis; as a result, the company faces several product liability lawsuits for its failure to warn about the risks associated with the drug.

FDA approved Tasigna (nilotinib) in 2007 as a part of a class of medications known as kinase inhibitors. These medications are prescribed to treat Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML).

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