Texas Supreme Court Rejects Direct-to-Consumer Exception to Learned-Intermediary Doctrine

Today, the Supreme Court of Texas unanimously held that the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals erred in recognizing a direct-to-consumer advertising exception to the learned-intermediary doctrine, and reversed and rendered judgment for the prescription drug manufacturer based on that doctrine. For the first time, the Court confirmed that the learned- intermediary doctrine applies to prescription drugs and held “that a prescription drug manufacturer fulfills its duty to warn end users of its product’s risks by providing adequate warnings to the intermediaries who prescribe the drug and, once fulfilled, it has no further duty to warn the end users directly.” The Court also held that the learned-intermediary doctrine is not an affirmative defense, and that it applies to all claims based on an alleged failure to warn.

READ: Texas Supreme Court Rejects Direct-to-Consumer Exception to Learned-Intermediary Doctrine