JPML To Hear Oral Arguments on Gardasil Lawsuit Consolidation July 28

Gardasil lawsuit consolidation arguments will determine whether the complaints are consolidated before one judge as part of a multidistrict litigation.

Later this month, a panel of federal judges will consider oral arguments over whether to establish coordinated pretrial proceedings for all Gardasil lawsuits filed by families of teens and young adults left with devastating auto-immune injuries after receiving the HPV vaccine.

Gardasil has been widely recommended as a vaccination to protect against HPV infections, which can be sexually transmitted and lead to the later development of cervical cancer. Following years of marketing by the drug maker that suggested it was safe and effective, without serious side effects, it has been administered to young girls and boys at increasingly young ages of adolescence, before potential sexual activity.

In recent years, a growing number of Gardasil HPV vaccine lawsuits have been brought against Merck, indicating that the drug maker has failed to disclose side effects that caused teens and young adults to develop postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), autoimmune disorders, neurological side effects and other complications. Plaintiffs claim that Merck failed to adequately research the product before aggressively marketing it for use among children nationwide, and withheld important safety information from families and the medical community.

In April, a group of plaintiffs filed a motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), calling for all Gardasil vaccine lawsuits to be centralized in either the District of Arizona or the Western District of Wisconsin, as part of a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL). The motion indicated there are at least 34 different lawsuits pending in 25 different federal courts nationwide, and Gardasil lawyers indicate that number is likely to increase significantly in the coming weeks and months.

In response to the motion, Merk filed a brief in opposition to the consolidation last month, indicating the JPML should not consolidate the cases because Gardasil claims must first proceed through a Vaccine Court, which is specifically for complaints involving vaccines injuries. However, plaintiffs argue that the process has largely shielded manufacturers from liability in return for the allegedly low financial returns they get by providing millions of vaccines to the country, and that claimants are pursuing lawsuits after opting out of the Vaccine Court procedures.

In a Notice of Hearing Session (PDF) filed on June 16, the JPML announced it would hold oral arguments on Gardasil lawsuit consolidation on July 28 at the U.S. Court House in Seattle, Washington. Currently, the panel plans to hear oral arguments in person, but that could change if there is a surge in the COVID-19 pandemic.

In complex product liability litigation, where a large number of claims are filed throughout the federal court system by individuals who suffered similar injuries as a result of the same or similar products, it is common for the federal court system to centralize the litigation for pretrial proceedings.

Gardasil Autoimmune Side Effects

Gardasil contains a number of ingredients which are known to sometimes cause problems with the autoimmune system, including Amorphous Aluminum Hydroxyphosphate Sulfate (AAHS) and HPV LI-DNA fragments.

Critics claim Merck failed to adequately disclose the presence of these ingredients, and also claim Merck used them in the placebos given to “control” test subjects during clinical trials, leading to an inaccurate assessment of Gardasil side effects.

These additives have been linked to problems with cognitive and motor functions, autoimmune reactions, increased blood brain barrier permeability, and macrophagic myofascitis of the muscles. They are also believed to be able to block neuronal signaling, interrupt cell-to-cell communications, corrupt neuronal-glial interactions and interfere with synaptic transmissions, alter enzyme functions, impair protein functions and could alter DNA.

Multiple medical journals have published studies suggesting a strong link between the Gardasil vaccine and POTS, which is an acronym for “Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome”. The condition is most known for its disruption of the autonomic nervous system’s regulation of many vital bodily functions including heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.