ST. LOUIS — A federal judge has dismissed claims brought by a father who alleges his son's suicide was caused by an antinausea drug.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie White of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a ruling Jan. 8 in the case brought by Jonathan Raskas over the death of his son, Ralph Raskas, against Teva Pharmaceuticals and Actavis Elizabeth LLC, generic manufacturers of the drug metoclopramide.
When Ralph Raskas was 19 years old, he was treated with the drug for nausea and vomiting and subsequently developed a movement disorder that resulted in pain and restlessness in his legs, according to background information in the ruling. He then had to take leave from a six-year medical school program, the ruling states.
He was later diagnosed by a specialist as having drug-induced acute akathisia. He attempted suicide three times and succeeded on his third attempt, the ruling states.
The lawsuit claims that the defendants breached their duty to report any adverse effects to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeks to propose a stronger warning label and seeks relief based on product liability, wrongful death and loss of consortium, among other things.
In seeking to dismiss claims, Teva and Actavis argued they were preempted by federal law.
White called the events alleged in the complaint "tragic." He dismissed claims against the defendants but did allow Jonathan Raskas leave to amend his complaint to include allegations related to loss of consortium and failure to update or failure to conform labels.
"It is beyond dispute that the suffering of Ralph Raskas is tragic," White wrote in the ruling. "The law, however, forecloses all claims in Plaintiffs' complaint with the exception of those alleging a failure-to update or a failure-to-conform the labels, including the warnings, of Teva's and Actavis' metoclopramide to match those of (brand name) Reglan."