In re Celexa & Lexapro Products Liability Litigation

927 F. Supp. 2d 758, 90 Fed. R. Serv. 1068, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30864, 2013 WL 791780
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 4, 2013
DocketNo. MDL 1736
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 927 F. Supp. 2d 758 (In re Celexa & Lexapro Products Liability Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Celexa & Lexapro Products Liability Litigation, 927 F. Supp. 2d 758, 90 Fed. R. Serv. 1068, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30864, 2013 WL 791780 (E.D. Mo. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

RODNEY W. SIPPEL, District Judge.

The plaintiffs in this products liability Multi-District Litigation (MDL) allege that the antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro cause people to commit suicide. Defendant Forest makes, markets and sells these drugs. Out of the twelve cases remaining in this MDL, all but one involve adult decedents.1 This matter is before me on Forest’s motion to exclude plaintiffs’ general causation expert, David Healy, M.D., from testifying when these remaining cases are returned to their transferor courts for trial [# 623].2 Forest asks me to find that this expert’s opinions are so [760]*760unreliable that they should be excluded from being tested by any cross-examination at trial, being weighed by any jury, or even limited in any respect by any trial judge.

In doing so, Forest relies heavily on the fact that, more than ten years ago, a district court excluded Dr. Healy’s testimony and that decision was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. See Miller v. Pfizer, 196 F.Supp.2d 1062 (D.Kan. 2002), aff'd, 356 F.3d 1326 (10th Cir.2004). According to Forest, that should be the end of Dr. Healy’s expert witness career in the United States.3 The Miller case involved a child who committed suicide after taking the antidepressant Zoloft.4 In that case, Dr. Healy opined that Zoloft induced suicidality. Ultimately (and subsequent to the Tenth Circuit’s decision) the FDA concluded that “antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder and other psychiatric disorders.”5 It could be argued, then, that Dr. Healy actually got it right in the Miller case and his opinions were ultimately validated by the FDA’s own findings.

After presiding over this action for nearly seven years, reading the voluminous briefs and exhibits filed by both sides on this issue, and conducting an exhaustive search of cases on this topic (and on Dr. Healy’s testimony specifically),6 I am not persuaded that Dr. Healy’s opinions should be excluded from the underlying trials of these cases. I am not convinced that Dr. Healy’s testimony should be excluded today simply because it was excluded more than a decade ago, particularly where the [761]*761intervening science and the FDA have lent credence to his earlier opinions. More recent opinions, including one from the Honorable David F. Hamilton, Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sitting by designation in the district court, support my decision. See Tucker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 701 F.Supp.2d 1040 (S.D.Ind.2010). This Court serves as a gatekeeper only with regard to the admissibility of scientific evidence, and Dr. Healy’s testimony passes the threshold test of admissibility. The weight of this testimony, however, will be decided by juries, after Dr. Healy is subjected to undoubtedly thorough cross-examination by Forest’s able counsel.

[760]*760Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [Celexa/Lexapro] or any other antidepressant in a child adolescent or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction in risk with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults aged 65 and older. Depression and certain psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide. Patients of all ages who are started on antidepressant therapy should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior.

[761]*761 Discussion

The opinion of a qualified expert witness is admissible if (1) it is based on sufficient facts or data, (2) it is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case. Fed.R.Evid. 702. The expert’s scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge must also “assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine a fact in issue.” Id. I must ensure that “any and all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable.” Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). The function also serves “to make certain that an expert, whether basing testimony upon professional studies or personal experience, employs in the courtroom the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of an expert in the relevant field.” Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238(1999).

“[T]he requirement that an expert’s testimony pertain to ‘scientific knowledge’ establishes a standard of evidentiary reliability.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590, 113 S.Ct. 2786. The Supreme Court explained that evidentiary reliability means trustworthiness. Id. at 591 n. 9, 113 S.Ct. 2786. “Proposed testimony must be supported by appropriate validation — i.e., ‘good grounds,’ based on what is known.” Id. at 590, 113 S.Ct. 2786. “The standard for judging the evidentiary reliability of expert evidence is lower than the merits standard of correctness.” Kuhn v. Wyeth, Inc., 686 F.3d 618, 624-625 (8th Cir.2012) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). “Proponents of expert testimony need not demonstrate that the assessments of their experts are correct, and trial courts are not empowered to determine which of several competing scientific theories has the best provenance.” Id. at 625 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). “Vigorous cross-examination, presentation of contrary evidence, and careful instruction on the burden of proof are the traditional and appropriate means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 596, 113 S.Ct. 2786.

The Supreme Court identified in Daubert a number of factors that might assist the district court in determining the admissibility of expert evidence: (1) whether the theory or technique applied can be tested, (2) whether the theory or technique has been subject to peer review or publication, (3) the known or potential rate of error, and (4) whether it is accepted in the relevant discipline. Id. at 593-94, 113 S.Ct. 2786. It instructed me to focus on “principles and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate.” Id. at 595,113 S.Ct. 2786. The Court later recognized that “conclusions and methodology are not entirely distinct from one another.” General Elec. Co. v. Joiner,

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927 F. Supp. 2d 758, 90 Fed. R. Serv. 1068, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30864, 2013 WL 791780, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-celexa-lexapro-products-liability-litigation-moed-2013.