In a victory for Merck, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a lower court decision May 20 that had revived a class-action lawsuit accusing the drugmaker of failing to warn patients of risks associated with its osteoporosis drug Fosamax, according to Reuters.
More than 500 Fosamax users claimed in the suit that Merck didn't warn them or their physicians that the osteoporosis drug could cause atypical femoral fractures, which are thigh bone breaks that occur without impact.
Merck, which does not dispute the risk and has included a warning with prescriptions since 2010, argued it cannot be held liable for damages because the FDA rejected a proposed warning to patients in 2009.
The case was sent back to the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will reconsider its decision to allow the class-action to proceed even though FDA officials rejected Merck's attempt to add a warning to Fosamax's label about the fracture risk.
Read the full report here.