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LANSING – State Representative Gabe Leland (D-Detroit) today took a stand for Michigan residents who have been damaged by dangerous prescription drugs by voting to repeal a state law that gives drug companies complete immunity when their products harm or kill.

"Today we moved toward providing Michigan residents the same protections enjoyed throughout the rest of the country," Leland said. "This plan gives a voice to those who have suffered as big drug companies made major profits with no fear of repercussion from their harmful products. The law provided them that shelter and repealing it is a step in the right direction."

House Democrats have been fighting to repeal drug industry immunity since 2005. The House took action to end drug industry immunity in 2007, but the plan met with opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate. The plan that passed the Michigan House today will:

• Repeal a 1996 law granting immunity to drug companies. Passed by then-Governor John Engler and the Republican-controlled Legislature, the law gives companies complete immunity in Michigan when their products harm or kill if the drug has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Make the repeal retroactive so Michigan residents who have been harmed by dangerous drugs since 1996 can hold drug companies accountable.
• Include drug companies in the Consumer Protection Act, from which they are exempt.

Recent action in the U.S. Supreme Court and in Georgia has called attention to the flaws in Michigan's drug industry immunity law.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 4 that a drug manufacturer is responsible for the content of its label if the product causes harm or death, despite FDA approval of the label.^[1] The ruling came in the case of a woman who took action to hold drug maker Wyeth accountable when she lost her arm to gangrene after being injected with an anti-nausea medication.

Georgia's Governor proposed a drug industry immunity law for that state that would be similar to Michigan. The measure met with opposition from the Republican-controlled Senate. An editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the plan a "poison pill" that would "create a liability-free haven for drugmakers."^[2]

In 2005 claims by 187 Michigan residents against Warner-Lambert, maker of the diabetes drug Rezulin, were dismissed by a New York federal court judge because of the Michigan law. Rezulin was pulled off the market in 2000 after it was linked to nearly 400 deaths and thousands of cases of liver failure.^[3] Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug that its maker, Merck, pulled off the market in 2004, may have caused heart attacks or cardiac deaths in up to 139,000 Americans, based on Merck's own studies.^[4] Bextra was taken off the market in 2005 due to an increased risk of heart attack and serious skin reactions among the painkiller's users.  

In the wake of scandals surrounding drugs such as Vioxx, Rezulin and Bextra, there have been revelations that members of FDA drug-approval boards have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The public testimony of FDA scientists such as Dr. David Graham has indicated that the FDA's system for drug evaluation is "broken."^[5]

"The stakes couldn't be higher," Leland said. "Simply put – this comes down to protecting lives or protecting profits. That decision is always an easy one – people must always come first. We need to hold drug companies to the same standards as other companies who do business in Michigan. The lives of Michigan residents must be top priority."