After two and a half days of trial, the plaintiff in Brown v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., No. 7:08-CV-00130-FL (E.D.N.C.), agreed to dismiss with prejudice his claims against Firm client Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (“NPC”).  The plaintiff is a resident of North Carolina and filed a product liability lawsuit in Tennessee federal court alleging that he developed osteonecrosis of the jaw (“ONJ”) as a result of his use of Novartis’s drugs Zometa and Aredia, FDA-approved medications typically prescribed by oncologists to patients with multiple myeloma or whose cancer has metastasized to bone.  The case was transferred from Tennessee to North Carolina for trial after undergoing discovery in the ongoing Aredia and Zometa multidistrict litigation, In re: Aredia and Zometa Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 3:06-MD- 01760 (TJC) (M.D. Tenn.).

Prior to today’s dismissal, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Judge Louise W. Flanagan issued an order limiting the scope of the testimony that could be offered by plaintiff’s proffered Food & Drug Administration/regulatory expert Dr. Susanne Parisian.  Brown v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., No. 7:08-cv-00130-FL (E.D.N.C. Sept. 20, 2012).  In the order, the court granted NPC’s request to preclude Dr. Parisian from testifying about causation, including not only “general or specific causation,” but also “causal association.”  The court ruled that “Dr. Parisian shall not use such terminology.  It would only confuse the jury.”  Based upon the order, Dr. Parisian’s trial testimony given on September 20, 2012, was limited.