Irish court gives go-ahead to Roche acne drug case
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An Irish judge ruled on Friday that a man who believes the acne drug Accutane caused his son’s suicide can pursue his case against Swiss drugs maker Roche Holdings despite rejecting an out-of-court settlement.
Roche had hoped to get the case dismissed after Liam Grant turned down a settlement that offered maximum damages under Irish law, plus related costs, but did not include an admission of liability.
Justice Joseph Finnegan accepted that continuing the case would be both costly and expensive, involving millions of documents and months of court time, but ruled that Grant had a constitutional right to pursue his case to establish liability.
“While the consequences for the defendants of the plaintiff determining to proceed will be significant in terms of costs, the constitutional right of the plaintiff takes precedence,” he said in a written judgement at the High Court in Dublin.
Grant, who has spent large sums on the case and on privately sponsored scientific research, wants to get a court to rule that Accutane was behind the death of his 20-year-old son, also called Liam, and that Roche knew the drug was a serious risk.
The company, which denies negligence, says that while it feels sympathy for Grant, scientific evidence shows that there is no direct link between Accutane and the increased risk of depression, psychiatric disorders or suicide that he alleges.
Regulators in the United States have already imposed tighter prescription controls on the drug in order to prevent harm to unborn children.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) researcher told a U.S. Senate hearing in November that Accutane was among five medicines on the market that needed closer scrutiny, although the FDA later said that testimony did not reflect its views.
Judge Finnegan said that while it would be wrong for Grant to pursue the case just because he wanted to generate adverse publicity and punish Roche, his desire to determine liability did not constitute an abuse of the courts.
Grant said in a statement that Friday’s ruling showed that Roche’s financial clout “does not allow them to buy their way out of having a full court hearing.”
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