It was early 2012 when doctors found a tumor in Kim Franzi’s brain.
It was a meningioma — a typically slow-growing, noncancerous tumor that originates in a layer of tissue between the brain and skull. Franzi underwent a risky two-day brain surgery to remove the mass, which doctors warned could leave her paralyzed or prove fatal. The operation was successful, but more than thirteen years later, she still suffers from side effects, including issues with her reflexes, teeth, hearing, and vision. Franzi considers herself one of the lucky ones.
“I was at work one day, the next day I was at the doctor, and my whole life changed,” said Franzi. “I just thought, who’s going to take care of my kids?”
Before discovering the tumor, Franzi used the birth control shot Depo-Provera for more than fifteen years. The shot has been used by roughly one in four sexually active women in the United States, bringing in hundreds of millions in profits annually for the pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer, which manufactures and distributes the drug.
But according to more than 1,200 lawsuits, Pfizer has failed to properly warn the public about long-established links between Depo-Provera and meningiomas. That includes a lawsuit submitted on Franzi’s behalf, plus more than 9,500 cases that have yet to be filed.
To avoid liability, Pfizer is leaning on a legal strategy called preemption, which asserts that federal law can override conflicting state laws. In this case, Pfizer is arguing that regulations and approvals issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) render stronger state consumer warnings invalid. However, critics argue that Pfizer influenced the FDA’s decision-making process on the matter, potentially even manipulating a…
Auteur: Helen Santoro
