Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2008
Keywords
Statins, Lipitor, Heart attacks in women, Food and Drug Administration regulations, FDA, Preemption claims, Empirical legal studies, Coronary Heart Disease in women, CHD, Nonfatal Myocardial Infarction, NFMI
Disciplines
Consumer Protection Law | Food and Drug Law | Health Law and Policy | Law and Society
Abstract
This article presents: (1) meta-analyses of studies of cardioprotection of women and men by statins, including Lipitor (atorvastatin), and (2) a legal analysis of advertising promoting Lipitor as preventing heart attacks. The meta-analyses of primary prevention clinical trials show statistically significant benefits for men but not for women, and a statistically significant difference between men and women. The analyses do not support (1) statin use to reduce heart attacks in women based on extrapolation from men, or (2) approving or advertising statins as reducing heart attacks without qualification in a population that includes many women. The legal analysis raises the question of whether Lipitor’s advertisements, which omit that Lipitor’s clinical trial found slight increased risk for women, is consistent with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act and related Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. The analysis suggests that FDA regulation should not preempt state law actions challenging advertising that is not supported by FDA-approved labeling. Our findings suggesting inadequate regulation of the world’s best-selling drug also counsel against courts accepting the FDA’s claimed preemption of state law causes of action relating to warnings and safety. Courts evaluating preemption claims should consider actual agency performance as well as theoretical institutional competence. Billions of health-care dollars may be being wasted on statin use by women but the current regulatory regime does not create incentives to prevent such behavior.
Recommended Citation
Eisenberg, Theodore and Wells, Martin T., "Statins and Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Moderate-Risk Females: A Statistical and Legal Analysis with Implications for FDA Preemption Claims" (2008). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. 390.
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/390
Publication Citation
Theodore Eisenberg, "Statins and Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Moderate-Risk Females: A Statistical and Legal Analysis with Implications for FDA Preemption Claims", 5 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (2008)
Included in
Consumer Protection Law Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Law and Society Commons