JPML CREATES SECOND FOSAMAX MDL

The Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation has granted Merck's motion for pretrial consolidation and coordination relating to spontaneous femur fractures caused by Fosamax and the generic equivalent, alendronate sodium.  The MDL, In re Alendronate Sodium Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2243, will be sent to the District Court of New Jersey, Trenton Division.  Interestingly, Merck refused to request consolidation with the current Fosamax MDL relating to osteonecrosis of the jaw, which is also caused by Fosamax. That MDL, In re Fosamax Products Liability Litigation , MDL No. 1789, is centered in the District Court for the Southern District of New York and is widely expected to wind down in 2012.  In declining to select the Southern District of New York, the JPML has now created two separate MDL's for problems caused by Fosamax.  The center of the litigation, however, remains the Superior Court of Atlantic County, New Jersey, where Fosamax femur fracture cases have been on file since early 2008; currently, several hundred cases are on file in that Court and it is anticipated that the first Fosamax femur fracture trials will occur in early 2012.

The Fosamax Examiner