MDL Panel Hears Viagra Melanoma Lawsuit Consolidation Arguments Today

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will hear oral arguments today over whether to centralize all Viagra lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system, consolidating cases brought on behalf of men diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer following use of the popular erectile dysfunction drug. 

There are currently several dozen product liability lawsuits pending against Pfizer in U.S. District Courts throughout the country, each involving similar allegations that the drug maker failed to adequately warn about the increased risk of skin cancer that may be caused by side effects of Viagra.

With Viagra melanoma lawyers continuing to review and file additional cases on behalf of men nationwide, it is expected that the size of the litigation will continue to grow over the coming months and years, and many expect that several thousand lawsuits will eventually be involved.

To reduce the risk of duplicative discovery into common issues in the cases, avoid conflicting pretrial rulings from different courts and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the judicial system, a group of plaintiffs filed a motion with the U.S. JPML in December, seeking to centralize the Viagra litigation before one judge for coordinated handling during pretrial proceedings.

Pfizer has indicated that it supports consolidation of the cases as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, indicating that the cases should be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. However, it remains uncertain whether the MDL panel will find that there are a sufficient number of cases currently filed to justify the centralized proceedings.

Oral arguments on the motion will be presented during a hearing scheduled for today, at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Federal Building in Santa Barbara, California. The JPML is expected to issue an order outlining their decision within a few weeks, which will identify the court where the cases will be transferred if a Viagra MDL is established.

Viagra Melanoma Side Effects

Viagra (sildenafil citrate) was introduced by Pfizer in 1998, and it has become one of the most widely recognized brand-name medications on the market in the United States, used by millions of men to treat impotence and sexual dysfunction, including the inability to develop or maintain an erection.

Since its approval, Viagra has been prescribed to an estimated 35 million men, and is generally considered safe by most consumers. However, recent studies suggest that the medication may reduce the body’s ability to resist the spread of melanoma.

The Viagra skin cancer litigation began to emerge after a study was published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine in April 2014, in which researchers from Harvard Medical School found that men who took Viagra were 84% more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma than men who do not use the drug.

Plaintiffs allege that Pfizer knew or should have known about the link between Viagra and melanoma for years before this, indicating that studies published as early as 2011 suggested that the erectile dysfunction drug may promote melanoma cell invasion. Another study published in the Journal of Cell Biochemistry in 2012 also found that PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra could exacerbate melanoma development.

The American Cancer Society indicates that melanoma is diagnosed in about 69,000 Americans each year and causes about 8,650 deaths annually. The skin cancer usually manifests as unusual moles or patches of skin. While it is often curable if caught early, once melanoma has spread beyond the skin and local lymph nodes, treatment is difficult and it may ultimately result in death.

If the cases are consolidated as part of a federal multidistrict litigation, it is expected that a small group of representative Viagra lawsuits will be selected for a series of “bellwether” trials, which are designed to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be presented throughout the claims.

Following these test trials, if Pfizer fails to negotiate Viagra melanoma settlements or otherwise resolve the litigation, the cases may be remanded back to the U.S. District Courts throughout the country where they were originally filed for separate trial dates.