Learned Intermediary Doctrine Applies in Clinical-Trial Context, Texas Federal Judge Rules

HOUSTON — The learned intermediary doctrine defeats failure-to-warn claims in a wrongful death case involving an experimental cancer drug because the investigators for the clinical trial were adequately warned of the risks and acted as a conduit between the decedent and the defendant drug maker, a Texas federal judge has ruled.

In a May 27 order, Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas predicted that the Texas Supreme Court would apply the learned intermediary doctrine in the clinical-trial context.

Maty Holland battled leukemia off and on for six years. When her leukemia returned …