April 27, 2016 — A panel of federal judges have centralized lawsuits involving men who developed melanoma (skin cancer) after using Viagra into a Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2691) in California.
On April 7, the judges issued an order (PDF) to transfer 14 lawsuits into a federal docket in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California under Judge Richard Seeborg:
- IN RE: Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate) Products Liability Litigation, Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2691)
The MDL process has many of the advantages of a class action, such as improving efficiency and convenience. Lawyers coordinate pretrial proceedings and select cases for “bellwether” trials.
The outcome can also help resolve other lawsuits involving similar injuries, especially if compensation is awarded by a jury or settlement. According to the panel:
“Centralization will eliminate duplicative discovery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings on Daubert and other issues, and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel, and the judiciary.”
All of the lawsuits accuse Pfizer of negligence for failing to warn about the risk of melanoma. They also cite a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine in 2014 linking Viagra with an 84% increased risk of melanoma.
The conclusions of the study were based on 10 years of data on 25,000 healthcare professionals in the United States who participated in a study at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Experts are concerned about the risk of melanoma because Viagra blocks an enzyme called phosphodiesterase, which most melanomas also block. Viagra was not associated with higher rates of any other types of skin cancer. This suggests the increased risk is not due to sun exposure, which increases the risk of all skin cancers.
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