A federal appeals court declined to revive claims that Novo Nordisk’s Type 2 diabetes drug Victoza can cause pancreatic cancer.
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia, who presided over a multidistrict litigation over similar diabetes drugs made by Novo Nordisk and other companies, did not abuse his discretion in excluding the plaintiffs’ sole expert on the drug’s alleged cancer link, Robert Gale.
The panel elaborated that Gale was “alone” in the scientific community in his point of view that Victoza causes cancer, and that he did not review studies published since 2015 finding no link, supporting Battaglia’s March 2021 ruling granting summary judgment to Novo Nordisk.
The company expressed in a statement that it was pleased by the ruling and added that it “Firmly stands behind the safety of Victoza.”
According to its annual report, the drug brought the company about $2.2 billion in revenue in 2021, out of total sales of $16.8 billion. Timothy Becker of Johnson Becker, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Circuit Judges Sydney Thomas and M. Margaret McKeown and U.S. District Judge William Orrick of the Northern District of California, sitting by designation, joined in the unsigned opinion.
The MDL before Battaglia included about 1,500 plaintiffs and targeted not only Novo Nordisk but also AstraZeneca PLC’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Co, and Merck & Co Inc. However, plaintiffs said in an August 2021 filing that an appeal as to those defendants was “not warranted,” without providing further details.
Plaintiffs accused the companies of failing to warn of the drugs’ risk of pancreatic cancer, after a 2013 study found that patients using them had precancerous pancreatic cells.
A California judge in April 2021 dismissed similar claims by about 500 plaintiffs in a coordinated state court proceeding.
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