LANSING - State Representative Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) today called on the Legislature to allow Michigan residents to hold drug companies accountable when their products harm or kill. Brown submitted a letter to the House Judiciary Committee Chair urging passage of her legislation to repeal drug industry immunity. Last week, a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling barred the state’s and attorney general’s efforts to recover $20 million in Medicaid costs from the drug maker of Vioxx.
“Michigan’s drug immunity law treats our residents like second-class citizens,” Brown said. “We are the only state where drug companies walk away scot-free with millions of our tax dollars after selling products that can cause serious injury or death. We owe it to our residents to protect their rights and to get the most out of their tax dollars. We’re facing a budget deficit that will impact every community and school in the state, yet we have a law that prevents us from recovering $20 million from a company that sold us a defective and potentially harmful product. That’s outrageous - the Legislature needs to act now.”
A member of the House Judiciary Committee, Brown submitted a letter this week respectfully requesting that Committee Chair John Walsh (R-Livonia) take up her plan. Last week the state appeals court barred the state from suing drug maker Merck & Co. to recover more than $20 million spent on Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug pulled from the market in 2004 because of health risks.
Currently, Michigan is the only state in the nation that gives drug companies total immunity when their products harm or kill consumers. Legislation to repeal that law has stalled in the state Senate twice in the last four years, leaving Michigan residents helpless when they or a loved one fall victim to these products. Brown’s bill is part of a plan that will repeal a 1996 law that gives drug companies complete immunity from legal action if the drug in question has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“Michigan’s drug immunity law goes way too far and even protects unscrupulous drug manufacturers that receive FDA approval through fraud,” said State Representative Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills). “It’s absolutely astonishing that our unique-in-the-nation law gives these companies a get-out-of-jail-free card when their products do harm, depriving our citizens of tens of millions of dollars in damages. Our state and our consumers deserve better. That’s why I am calling on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to repeal this broken drug industry immunity law and allow victims to hold drug companies accountable once and for all.”
