Woods v. Gliatech, Inc.

218 F. Supp. 2d 802, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16003, 2002 WL 1974377
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedAugust 27, 2002
DocketCIV.A.7:01CV00314
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 218 F. Supp. 2d 802 (Woods v. Gliatech, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woods v. Gliatech, Inc., 218 F. Supp. 2d 802, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16003, 2002 WL 1974377 (W.D. Va. 2002).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WILSON, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff Norman Virgil Woods (“Woods”) brought this personal injury action against defendants Gliatech, Inc., Glia-tech, Gliatech Medical, Inc., Gliatech R & D Inc., and GIC, Inc. (“Gliatech”) alleging negligence, breach of warranty and fraud arising out of Gliatech’s development and distribution of ADCON-L, a medical device. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. This matter is before the court on Gliatech’s motion for summary judgment. Gliatech maintains that because it obtained premarket approval for ADCON-L from the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) pursuant to the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“MDA”), 21 U.S.C. § 360k(a) of the MDA preempts Woods’ state law claims. For the reasons stated below, the court denies Gliatech’s motion.

I.

Gliatech developed, tested, distributed, and marketed ADCON-L, a gel-like product for use in surgical back procedures to inhibit post-surgical peridural scar tissue formation, thereby lessening post-surgical pain caused by scarring. ADCON-L is classified by the FDA as a Class III medical device. In 1996, Gliatech submitted a premarket approval application (“PMA”) to the FDA for ADCON-L. The PMA contained clinical trial information and testing data from a European study and the interim results from a yet to be completed U.S. clinical study. The FDA determined, in light of the European study and interim results of the U.S. study, that “the benefits of using [ADCON-L] outweigh the risk of illness when used as indicated.” (Def.’s Mem. in Supp. of Summ. J., Ex. B) On May 27, 1998, the FDA conditionally approved Gliateeh’s PMA for ADCON-L. In a letter notifying Gliatech, the FDA stated:

We are pleased to inform you that the PMA is approved subject to the “Conditions of Approval” (enclosed). You may begin commercial distribution of the device upon receipt of this letter ....
The labeling for your device is incomplete since it includes interim results of *804 the U.S. clinical trial .... Therefore, in addition to the postapproval requirements in the enclosure, you must complete the 370 subject U.S. clinical trial being conducted ... and provide postap-proval supplements to your PMA which include the following information:
1. Within thirty days of the receipt of the approval order, you must provide a description of the twelve month longer term clinical outcome data that you will collect on the 370 subjects enrolled in your U.S. clinical trial (G940001).
2. The final report for your U.S. clinical trial (G940001) must be provided within three months of study completion.
3. Revised draft labeling that replaces the results of the interim analyses for the U.S. clinical trial with the final study results at six months, and that reflects longer term clinical outcome at twelve months must be provided.
(Aff d Robert J. Bard, Ex. 1)

Additionally, the approval letter stated: “Failure to comply with the conditions of approval invalidates this approval order. Commercial distribution of a device that is not in compliance with these conditions is a violation of the act.” (Id.)

After completing the U.S. study, but before submitting the results to the FDA, Gliatech personnel reviewed the results and found that the U.S. study did not demonstrate ADCON-L’s effectiveness. Instead of reporting this to the FDA, however, Gliatech personnel manipulated the data to suggest that ADCON-L was effective. In March 1999, Gliatech submitted to the FDA a report of the final U.S. study which contained false and misleading data. (See Plea Agreement entered by Gliatech in U.S.D.C. for the N.D. Oh., Pi’s Mem. in Opp. to Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. 1)

From “January 1999 through February 2000, Gliatech received complaints from surgeons regarding serious adverse medical reactions suffered by surgical patients in the course of or following surgeries in which ADCON-L had been used.” (Id) Some of these complaints “pertained to cerebrospinal fluid leaks (CSF leaks).” (Id.) Although Gliatech was required to notify the FDA of these adverse events by filing a Medical Device Report (“MDR”), Gliatech failed to do so. “MDRs are publicly available documents. Thus, back surgeons and other medical professionals, potential back surgery patients, and the general public would have had access to the MDRs had Gliatech filed them.” (Id.)

On April 26, 1999, spinal surgeon Dr. James M. Leipzig performed back surgery (lumbar discectomy) on Woods at Lewis Gale Medical Center. During the surgery, Dr. Leipzig applied ADCON-L to the surgical site to prevent the formation of scar tissue. Woods alleges that within a few days following the surgery, he experienced significant headaches, nausea and photo-phobia, resulting from a leak of CSF fluid, which he claims ADCON-L caused.

In early 2000, the FDA uncovered misconduct by Gliatech with respect to the PMA and the reporting requirements for ADCON-L, and the Department of Justice followed with an investigation of Gliatech. In December 2000, the FDA determined that the provisions of the Application Integrity Policy (also known as the Fraud, Untrue Statements of Material Facts, Bribery, and Illegal Gratuities Policy) should apply to Gliatech based on FDA findings that Gliatech failed to provide reliable data.

In January 2001, Gliatech recalled AD-CON-L from the market. The recall, according to Gliatech, was for reasons unrelated to this case. Woods, however, disagrees. 1 On April 27, 2001, Woods *805 filed this lawsuit for personal injuries against Gliatech claiming negligence, breach of warranty and fraud on the public.

In April 2002, the Department of Justice filed an information against Gliatech in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. Gliatech pled guilty to six counts, including four counts of failure to notify the FDA of reportable events in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(q)(l)(B) and 333(a)(1), one count of adulteration of a medical device in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 331 (k) and 333(a)(1), and one count of submitting a materially false and misleading report regarding a medical device in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a)(2) and 333(a)(1). (Id.)

Robert J. Bard, Vice President of Glia-tech, states in an affidavit that the “FDA has never advised Gliatech, Inc.

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Bluebook (online)
218 F. Supp. 2d 802, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16003, 2002 WL 1974377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woods-v-gliatech-inc-vawd-2002.