Hearings on Evidence That Depo-Provera Causes Meningioma Brain Tumors Set for Late June 2026

Success in the general causation hearings is critical to plaintiffs’ ability to bring Depo-Provera meningioma lawsuits before juries later this year.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over nearly 3,500 Depo-Provera meningioma lawsuits is set to evaluate the strength of the general causation evidence linking the popular birth control shot to brain tumors at a hearing in June 2026, which will impact what testimony juries will be allowed to consider during a series of upcoming test trials.

In just over two months, attorneys will ask the federal judge to approve key expert evidence they intend to present when the first trials begin in December 2026, which is critical to establishing that Depo-Provera injections can cause meningioma brain tumors.

Ultimately, former users who developed the brain tumors seek to prove that Pfizer, the maker of brand-name Depo-Provera, and other generic manufacturers failed to provide adequate warnings of the meningioma risks to patients and the medical community.

Depo-Provera is a long-acting hormonal contraceptive introduced in 1992. It involves quarterly injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate, a synthetic progestin, which is designed to prevent pregnancy. Based on the drug makers’ claims that the shots were safe and effective, tens of millions of women have received the birth control injections since approval.

However, concerns and litigation began to emerge after studies were published in 2024, which linked Depo-Provera side effects to meningioma risks. Researchers warned that women who receive the injections face more than five times the risk of developing brain tumors than women who do not receive Depo-Provera shots. These brain tumors, known as intracranial meningioma, can cause serious, potentially life-threatening complications, often requiring brain surgery and life-long medical monitoring.

All federal Depo-Provera lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of Florida before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

When the MDL was first formed, Judge Rodgers quickly ordered the parties to prepare five “pilot” Depo-Provera lawsuits for early trial dates, which are now set to begin in December 2026. These bellwether trials are designed to give plaintiffs and defendants the opportunity to see how juries respond to evidence and testimony likely to be repeated throughout the litigation.

Depo-Provera General Causation Hearings

As part of the preparation for the pilot trials, plaintiffs must first show that it is scientifically feasible for Depo-Provera injections to cause the development of brain tumors. This process is known as general causation.

Originally, Judge Rodgers scheduled hearings over general causation for May 26 through 28. However, due to a conflict in the judge’s schedule, she changed the date of the hearings to June 24 through 26, according to a court order (PDF) issued on April 7.

If plaintiffs establish there is sufficient and scientifically sound evidence to potentially convince a jury that Depo-Provera can cause brain tumors, the litigation will proceed to pilot trials.

While the outcomes of the pilot trials will not be binding on other Depo-Provera claims, they could help form the basis of a Depo-Provera lawsuit settlement agreement, avoiding the need for thousands of individual trials taxing the federal court system.

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