LANSING – State Representative Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) today announced that a package of bills to end the absolute immunity enjoyed by drug companies will get a hearing in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
"For too long the profits of big drug companies have been put ahead of our citizens," Byrum said. "Michigan is the only state in the nation that gives total immunity to companies that sell dangerous drugs like Vioxx that harm or even kill. Our citizens deserve to hold these companies accountable. The time to act is now."
The package of bills to be discussed in Committee Wednesday will:
- Repeal a 1996 law granting legal immunity to drug companies. Passed by then-Governor John Engler and the Republican-controlled Legislature, the law gives companies complete immunity from legal action so long as the drug in question has been approved for safety and efficacy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Make the repeal retroactive so that Michigan residents harmed by dangerous drugs since 1996 can seek legal recourse.
- Include big drug companies in the Consumer Protection Act, from which they are currently exempted.
In the wake of scandals surrounding drugs such as Vioxx, Rezulin and Bextra, there have been revelations that many members of FDA drug-approval boards have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. House Democrats said Michigan residents cannot blindly trust the FDA and must be able to hold the drug companies accountable when harmful drugs make it to the market. The public testimony of FDA scientists such as Dr. David Graham indicate that the FDA's system for drug evaluation is "broken."1
House Democrats have been fighting to repeal drug immunity since 2005, when claims by 187 Michigan residents against Warner-Lambert, maker of the diabetes drug Rezulin, were dismissed by a New York federal court judge because of the Michigan law. Rezulin was pulled off the market in 2000 after it was linked to nearly 400 deaths and thousands of cases of liver failure.2
Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug that its maker, Merck, pulled off the market in 2004, may have caused heart attacks or cardiac deaths in up to 139,000 Americans, based on Merck's own studies.3 Bextra was taken off the market in 2005 due to an increased risk of heart attack and serious skin reactions among the painkiller's users.
"The pharmaceutical industry is more concerned with its bottom line than human life," Byrum said. "Our citizens have no recourse against big drug companies for one reason and one reason alone: They live in Michigan. We must stand up for our citizens in Michigan and against these big drug companies. It is time for their free ride to end."
[1] Testimony of David Graham, associate director for science and medicine in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, before the Senate Finance Committee, Nov. 18, 2004.
2 Anstett, Patricia and Norris, Kim. "Michigan Rezulin lawsuits tossed," Detroit Free Press, Feb. 25, 2005.
3 Graham testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Nov. 18, 2004.