Vaccine makers shielded from suits says Supreme Court

In a 6-2 vote, the Supreme Court today ruled that vaccine makers cannot be sued outside of a specially designated "vaccine court," created by National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

The justices apparently struggled with some ambiguities in the law, with Justice Scalia writing that the "lack of guidance for design defects [in the drugs] combined with the extensive guidance for the grounds of liability specifically mentioned in the act strongly suggests that design defects were not mentioned because they are not a basis for liability."

However, Justice Sotomayer (with Justice Ginsburg) dissented, saying that
to "pre-empt all design defect claims against vaccine manufacturers for covered vaccines, the majority’s decision leaves a regulatory vacuum in which no one—neither the FDA nor any other federal agency, nor state and federal juries—ensures that vaccine manufacturers adequately take account of scientific and technological advancements.

This concern is especially acute with respect to vaccines that have already been released and marketed to the public. Manufacturers, given the lack of robust competition in the vaccine market, will often have little or no incentive to improve the designs of vaccines that are already generating significant profit margins. Nothing in the text, structure, or legislative history remotely suggests that Congress intended that result."


Links to the Supreme Court decision can be found: here.

The ruling was in response to a case brought by the Bruesewitz family, against Wyeth (now owned by Pfizer, Inc), in which the Breusewitz's claimed that their infant daughter was harmed by toxins in a booster shot.

About Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE)

Pfizer, Inc (NYSE: PFE)

About Pfizer, Inc*

235 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10017
(212) 733-2323

Reveune: $67.8 billion (2010)

I.R.S. Employer Identification Number:
13-5315170


Pfizer Inc. (which may be referred to as Pfizer, the Company, we, us or our) is a research-based, global biopharmaceutical company. We apply science and our global resources to improve health and well-being at every stage of life. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of medicines for people and animals. Our diversified global health care portfolio includes human and animal biologic and small molecule medicines and vaccines, as well as nutritional products and many of the world’s best-known consumer health care products. Every day, we work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as the world’s leading biopharmaceutical company, we also collaborate with other biopharmaceutical companies, health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world.
The Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on June 2, 1942.

On October 15, 2009, we completed our acquisition of Wyeth. The acquisition was a cash-and-stock transaction valued, based on the closing market price of Pfizer’s common stock on the acquisition date, at $50.40 per share of Wyeth common stock, or a total of approximately $68 billion.

In response to the challenging operating environment, we have taken many steps to strengthen our Company and better position ourselves for the future. The most important of these steps was the acquisition of Wyeth, which has transformed us into a more diversified health care company, with product offerings in human and animal health, including vaccines, biologics, small molecules and nutrition across developed and emerging markets. We believe that our acquisition of Wyeth meaningfully advances, in a single transaction, each of the strategic priorities that we have identified and pursued over the last two years, including:

• Enhancing the in-line and patent-protected pipeline portfolio in key “invest to win” areas of
research where there exist significant unmet medical needs and significant opportunities for innovation and market leadership, such as oncology, pain, inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease, psychoses and diabetes as well as the critical technologies of vaccines and biologics;

• Becoming a top-tier player in biotherapeutics by 2015;

• Accelerating growth in emerging markets;

• Creating new opportunities for established products;

• Investing in complementary businesses; and

• Creating a lower, more flexible cost base for the combined company.

*Source: Form 10-K

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