There is an editorial in this month’s New England Journal of Medicine on Riegel v. Medtronic, the preemption case that the Supreme Court shall soon side that has pharmaceutical and medical device companies sitting on the edge of their seats.
Quick background: A man suffered injuries when a balloon catheter exploded during an angioplasty. The manufacturer, Medtronic, moved to dismiss the case because the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1976 immunizes Medtronic from any state law torts claims for medical devices because the device received pre-market approval from the FDA.
The authors of the New England Journal of Medicine editorial set forth the history and rationale of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Device Act, pointing out that arguments, in this case, are just another version of the same arguments Medtronic offered in Medtronic v. Lohr, a case in which the Supreme Court rejected the preemption of state court claims arguments. The authors note that this case addresses “just how reliable the FDA pre-marketing approval process is and how much weight to give it.” The authors do not explicitly answer this question, but it is hard to argue that the FDA is an effective watchdog of pharmaceutical and medical device companies.