Six Years of Depo-Provera Injections Caused Woman To Develop Intracranial Meningioma: Lawsuit

California woman was unaware her meningioma was caused by Depo-Provera injections until a study was published earlier this year, resulting in widespread publicity about the brain tumor risks.

According to allegations raised in a recently filed product liability lawsuit, a California woman developed intracranial meningioma from Depo-Provera injections, which she received over a period of six years for birth control, even after doctors had detected the brain tumor.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Latosha White in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on November 8, indicating that Pfizer, Viatris, Greenstone LLC, Prasco Labs, Pharmacia LLC, and Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. failed to provide adequate warnings about the Depo-Provera brain tumor risks for users or the medical community, including the importance of monitoring for symptoms that may be related to the development of intracranial meningioma.

Depo-Provera is a quarterly birth control injection, which is used by an estimated 70 million women, since the manufacturers have claimed that the shot carries few serious side effects, compared to other forms of contraception. However, recent studies have found that Depo-Provera injections may cause meningioma, indicating that women receiving the shot may be 5.6 times more likely to develop the rare brain tumor.

“Defendants knew or should have known for decades that Depo-Provera, when administered and prescribed as intended, can cause or substantially contribute to the development of meningiomas,” White states in the lawsuit. “Several scientific studies have established that progesterone, its synthetic analogue progestin, and Depo-Provera in particular, cause or substantially contribute to the development of intracranial meningioma, a type of brain tumor. Nevertheless, Defendants failed to warn, instruct, advise, educate or otherwise inform Depo-Provera users and prescribers about the risk of intracranial meningioma or the need for medical monitoring for resultant symptoms.”

White now joins a rapidly growing number of women pursuing Depo-Provera injection lawsuits against the drug makers, indicating that they may have avoided the development of a brian tumor if reasonable instructions and warnings about the foreseeable risk had been provided.

The lawsuit indicates White began receiving Depo injections in 2018 and continued to get them every three months for the last six years. The injections consisted of both brand name Depo-Provera and generic versions.

“Over time, Plaintiff developed symptoms, including intense headaches and vision issues,” the lawsuit states. “After several MRI’s, Plaintiff was diagnosed with an intracranial meningioma.”

According to the complaint, the brain tumor was 1.8 x 1.8 x 1.2 cm in size and was discovered in September 2023. However, since neither White nor her doctors were informed by the manufacturers that there was a link between the Depo-Provera injection and brain tumors, she continued to receive the injections.

White was told by doctors that, as far as they knew, it was safe to keep receiving Depo-Provera injections. However, she elected to stop receiving the injections before learning about the associated risk of brain tumors in March 2024.

Two months later, in May, White underwent a procedure known as a craniectomy, which involved drilling holes in her skull to access the tumor, which was carefully removed, though some portions had to be left behind to avoid a vascular injury.

She now suffers weakness on her left side and has had to undergo in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation. White is scheduled to undergo another MRI next month to determine the state of the remaining tumor.

She presents claims of strict liability, failure to warn, design defect, negligence, negligent failure to warn, negligent design defect, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of warranty.

Failure to Warn About Depo-Provera Injection Meningioma Risks

White’s lawsuit points out that the Depo-Provera warning label in Canada has listed “meningioma” among the known “Post-Market Adverse Drug Reactions” since at least 2015.

In addition, the labels provided for women receiving the birth control injection in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom now list meningioma under the “special warnings and precautions for use” sections. However, the same warnings were not provided to doctors or women receiving the birth control injection in the United States.

“The [U.S.] warnings, or lack thereof, that were given by Defendants failed to properly warn prescribing physicians, including Plaintiff’s prescribing physicians, of the known and knowable risk of serious and potentially irreversible injuries related to the development of intracranial meningioma, and failed to instruct prescribing physicians to test and monitor for the presence of injuries and to discontinue use when symptoms of meningioma manifest,” according to allegations raised by White in the complaint.