Drug & Device News

Joseph Caltagirone, the father of a young man who died of an accidental methadone overdose after he became addicted to opioids, has appealed the summary dismissal of his case against drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals. Caltagirone contends the manufacturer aggressively promoted its fentanyl lozenge product Actiq to physicians as a treatment for a number of ills, even though it was only approved for use by cancer patients and was supposed to be prescribed only by oncologists specially trained in the use of Schedule II opioids. Caltagirone's son was prescribed Actiq for migraine headaches and became addicted. The trial court threw the case out, citing federal preemption and the learned intermediary doctrine. On appeal, attorney Richard Hollawell of the firm of Console & Hollawell asserts in plaintiff's brief that “[t]he law of Pennsylvania is that a jury is to determine whether 'proper and adequate' information has been given by a drug manufacturer to a physician alleged by the defense to be a 'learned intermediary,'” and “[i]t is the defendant manufacturer itself that has misled the intermediary and preserved the causation required to impose liability.”