US Supreme Court did not take Johnson & Johnson appeal on Tuesday. The highest court said the Massachusetts verdict is correct. J&J will loss $140 million because of an alleged misjudgment about failing to warn that Children's Motrin pain and fever medication could cause a devastating skin condition.
CNCB reported that Johnson & Johnson and its McNeil-PPC Inc subsidiary appealed to the high court to make a decision whether it should be held accountable. J&J said it was the federal drug regulators' decision to not put the added warnings to the drug's labels about the life-threatening condition. They argued that U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not think adding warnings to the label is important so they should not be liable of the result. J&J said that the FDA's decision was clear evidence that they should not be the one responsible for what happened.
Samantha Reckis, the plaintiff, together with her parents sued J&J back in 2007 as Reuters stated. They claimed that they were not advised about the connection between the active ingredient in Children's Motrin, ibuprofen, and Stevens - Johnson syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. Those two are rare related skin conditions. Reckis explained that after getting numerous doses of Children's Motrin, she developed toxic epidermal necrolysis when she was 7 years old. It led to Rckis losing 95 percent of the top layer of her skin while suffering other severe injuries, including heart failure, stroke and an aneurysm.
According to Fierce Pharma the Massachusetts jury awarded the plaintiff, Samantha Reckis and her parents, $63 million in damages. With interest, the award amounts to $140 million. They explained that the company failed to warn consumers about an unusual but possibly fatal set of skin conditions, Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court said that FDA's decision should not be the base of J&J. They also said that if it was Johnson and Johnson who requested the warning to be added then it would likely that FDA would agree.
