Lawsuit Claims Link Between Depo-Provera and Brain Tumors Was Downplayed by Drug Makers

Pfizer and other drug manufacturers should have done more to warn women about the link between Depo-Provera and brain tumors, according to allegations raised in a product liability lawsuit recently filed by a California woman diagnosed with a meningioma that was surgically removed in 2010, but returned more than 10 years later.

Madison Le filed the complaint (PDF) in the Superior Court of California on November 15, not only naming Pfizer as a defendant, but also a number of generic Depo-Provera manufacturers and distributors as well, including Pharmacia & Upjohn, Greenstone LLC, Prasco Labs, Viatris Inc. and Kaiser Permanente.

The lawsuit indicates that the drug makers knew or should have known that women faced an increased risk of meningioma brain tumors from Depo-Provera, but actively concealed and downplayed the risk, through aggressive marketing and promotions.

Following the publication of a study earlier this year, which found that women receiving the birth control shot may be five to six times more likely to develop meningioma, Le now joins a growing number of women pursuing Depo-Provera brain tumor lawsuits, claiming that they could have avoided the injury if earlier warnings and instructions had been provided to users and the medical community.

Le indicates that she began receiving Depo-Provera injections in 1996, when she was 20 years old. She continued receiving regular injections until 2005, totaling about 40 shots in all, including both the name brand and generic versions.

After developing severe headaches, migraines, weakness in her limbs and memory loss, Le was diagnosed with an intracranial meningioma in 2010, and had surgery to have it removed.

The lawsuit indicates doctors removed a “golf ball” sized brain tumor from her head. However, the tumor returned in 2021. As a result, the lawsuit indicates that she has missed approximately 12 weeks of work, and has been left with continuing injuries

Le states that she did not discover the link between Depo-Provera and brain tumors until recently, since the manufacturers intentionally hid the risks from the public and the medical community.

“Plaintiff was unaware that her Depo-Provera use had any connection to her meningioma until the large case control study in France, which was published in March 2024, attracted publicity and became broadly known,” Le indicates in the lawsuit. “Had Plaintiff known Depo-Provera’s unreasonably dangerous characteristics, including that it caused hormone-sensitive tumors such as meningiomas, Plaintiff would never have consented to use the Depo-Provera. Plaintiff would instead have used other safer alternative forms of birth control that were in existence and available on the market.”

Her lawsuit presents claims of strict liability, including failure to warn and design defect, negligent failure to warn and design, general negligence, negligent misrepresentation, as well as fraud for intentional misrepresentation, violation of consumer protection laws and breach of warranty.