New Jersey is home to another Accutane toxic tort trial, as plaintiff Priya Tanna sues Roche to recover for her permanent injuries. Tanna started using the prescription Accutane as a 15 year old and has since developed Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
During his opening statements, plaintiff’s counsel Paul Smith asserted that Accutane’s brochure was misleading because it never mentioned IBD, latency or the permanency of resulting conditions. Further, he shared images of Roche’s internal documents that show Accutane knew about such toxicity effects like IBD.
Defense counsel, Marie Woodbury of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP stated that this trial is actually about Tanna’s medical history and the conversations she had with her two dermatologist, Doctors Vierra and Barber.
“The warning information that was communicated to Priya Tanna’s doctors was adequate, appropriate, accurate and acknowledged by these doctors,” Woodbury said. “Roche has a 7-step warning system to make sure that doctors understand the importance of communicating risks to patients.”
Woodbury asserts that Roche followed the 7-step process and it was the shortfall of Tanna’s doctors that led to her lack of information or misinformation. Woodbury stated that the aim of the 7 step warning process is to make sure “that no one makes a casual decision to prescribe Accutane.”
Watch this Priya Tanna Accutane Trial live on CVN.
Paul Smith breaks his case down into three parts.
Marie Woodbury shows the jury the blister pack for Accutane as the last step in the 7-step process.
