Status of Depo-Provera Shot Lawsuits Outlined by MDL Judge

Manufacturers of generic Depo-Provera shots are expected to be dismissed from the federal MDL, as lawsuits against manufacturers of the brand name version of the birth control injection move forward.

Following a case management conference held late last month, the U.S. District Judge presiding over more than 400 federal Depo-Provera shot lawsuits brought by women who developed meningioma brain tumors has issued a detailed order, memorializing key points discussed with lawyers.

For more than 30 years, tens of millions of women have received Depo-Provera injections to help prevent pregnancy. However, the rapidly growing litigation emerged late last year, after studies found a link between Depo-Provera and brain tumors, with researchers indicating that some women could face a five-fold increased risk of developing an intracranial meningioma after receiving the injections.

According to the court order, at least 75% of the claims pending in the federal court system have been filed since March 2025, each involving nearly identical allegations that the manufacturers of the popular birth control shot failed to warn women and the medical community of the risks associated with the injections. However, as more women learn about the cause of their brain tumors, it is widely expected that thousands of additional claims may ultimately be filed in the coming months and years.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation established a Depo-Provera brain tumor MDL in February, consolidating the claims before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers in the Northern District of Florida, where the court is overseeing coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Judge Rodgers is a veteran of large mass tort litigation and has moved rapidly to start preparing the first Depo-Provera lawsuits for trial, indicating that a small group of pilot cases will serve as bellwether test trials to hopefully help bring about a resolution to the litigation without needing hundreds, or thousands, of costly individual federal court trials.

As part of the coordinated management of the claims, Judge Rodgers held a case management conference on May 30, to discuss the status of the Depo-Provera shot lawsuits and progress with early discovery.

On June 11, Judge Rodgers issued a case management order (PDF) to summarize what was discussed with the parties, issues that were resolved and matters that are still outstanding.

According to the order, the litigation is growing at a rapid pace, with about 300 Depo-Provera lawsuits filed since March alone, bringing the current total to 405 at the time of the conference. The judge also indicated that document production has proceeded as expected, with final deadlines for documents dealing with preemption and general causation having passed on May 11.

However, the order suggests that other defendants besides Pfizer may be dismissed from the litigation in the near future.

“The Parties also addressed the Court regarding the process of determining whether the authorized generic Defendants (Greenstone, Viatris, and Prasco) had sufficient involvement with the involved drug to remain in the litigation,” Judge Rodgers write. “Plaintiffs indicated that they anticipate that the authorized generic Defendants will be released from the litigation in the coming weeks.”

The pilot cases are expected to go before juries by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

While the outcomes of these trials will not be binding on other Depo-Provera lawsuits, they will give the parties a chance to see how jurors respond to arguments and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation, which may help the parties reach Depo-Provera settlement agreements.

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