Perez v. Wyeth Laboratories, Inc.
Supreme Court of New Jersey
734 A.2d 1245 (1999)
Wyeth Laboratories (defendant) heavily advertised its long-term contraceptive implant Norplant directly to women, without including warnings about potential side effects or dangers in those consumer-facing advertisements. Saray Perez and other women (plaintiffs) sued for failure to warn, but the trial court applied the learned-intermediary rule under New Jersey's Products Liability Act, holding Wyeth's duty to warn ran only to prescribing physicians, and dismissed the case; the appellate division affirmed, and the plaintiffs appealed further.
Whether the learned-intermediary rule, limiting a prescription-drug manufacturer's duty to warn to physicians, applies where the manufacturer advertises the drug directly to consumers.