Over on the Drug & Device Law blog, Reed Smith partner Jim Beck applauds the recent decision in Tyree v. Boston Scientific Corp., a case filed in the Southern District of West Virginia. Tyree manages to narrow the scope of the 2007 decision in State ex rel. Johnson & Johnson v. Karl, in which the court stated that the learned intermediary rule did not apply in West Virginia, making it the only U.S. state to reject the rule as a valid defense for manufacturers. In Tyree, the court has ruled that the Karl decision does not apply to medical device manufacturers that never engaged in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. As a result, the learned intermediary rule’s invalidity in West Virginia has now been restricted to cases involving “drug manufacturers that engage in DTC advertising.” Read the full post here.
Home Product Liability The Learned Intermediary Rule Scores a Win in West Virginia