To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Congress: Hold Generic Drug Manufacturers Liable for Injuries to Consumers
Guarantee a person’s right to seek compensation for injuries caused by a generic drugs. Hold generic drug manufacturers liable for injuries caused by their products. Require them to conduct clinical trials on their products and to post risks on warning labels. Currently, they copy the labels of name-brand drugs to bypass the lengthy and expensive clinical trials that went into discovering the risks associated with the drug.
Why is this important?
The Supreme Court has ruled (2011) that consumers who are injured from taking generic drugs (70% - 80% of prescriptions) cannot sue for injuries if their sole theory of liability is that the warning label was inadequate. The Doctrine of Preemption prevents them from being sued and they are not required to conduct clinical trials on drugs. My daughter took a generic version of Chlomid, a fertility pill which is linked to birth defects and as a result, my granddaughter (now age 5) was born with heart defects and other complications. She has undergone two open heart surgeries and will need more. There is no legal recourse because she was given a generic drug by the pharmacist; a decision my daughter had no voice in.