Last Friday, Judge Robert B. Kugler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, presiding over the Valsartan multidistrict litigation (MDL), denied dismissing fraud-based claims against the manufacturers of the blood pressure drug.
According to the order dated January 29, Judge Kugler upheld claims of fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and other fraud-based claims against manufacturers and dismissed them without prejudice against the wholesalers and pharmacies, stating that they were too conclusory to fulfill Rule 9(b)’s particularity requirement.
The opinion stated that the fraud claims are viable against the manufacturers as the consumers included precision and a large measure of substantiation into their allegations.
The judge said the allegations made against the manufacturers are sufficient to raise an inference of knowledge or, at the very least, recklessness and disagreed with manufacturers' argument that the consumers failed to show knowledge or scienter in their allegations.
A week ago, Judge Kugler also rejected bids from the defendants over the dismissal of warranty claims, stating that the claims are viable against the manufacturers as they marketed their products as "valsartan or valsartan‐containing, and all three sets of defendants should face certain breach of implied warranty claims.
Currently, several hundred product liability lawsuits are pending in the litigation docket, each raising similar allegations that long-term exposure to recalled valsartan drug results in stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, and other injuries. The lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2875 in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey.
