Multi-Day Suboxone Lawsuit Status Conference Being Held To Review Census Protocol and Procedures

Parties involved in the federal Suboxone lawsuits are heading into a two-day case management conference today and tomorrow, to review the status of the litigation and finalize information that will be included on a census form to be completed by all plaintiffs, as lawyers prepare to select a group of representative claims for early bellwether trial dates.

There are currently more than 11,000 product liability claims being pursued against Indivior throughout the federal court system, each raising similar allegations that former users of the sublingual film version of Suboxone were left with devastating dental damage and tooth decay problems, since the drug maker failed to adequately disclose the risk that the medication may degrade tooth enamel.

It was not until June 17, 2022 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required a label update to warn about the Suboxone film tooth decay problems, after identifying hundreds of complaints involving damage experienced by users. However, plaintiffs maintain that they may have avoided permanent Suboxone injuries if earlier warnings and instructions had been provided by the drug maker.

Given common allegations raised in the litigation, all Suboxone injury cases have been centralized in an MDL before U.S. District Judge Philip Calabrese, who is presiding over coordinated discovery into issues that will impact all claims, and is expected to schedule a series of early bellwether trials, which will help the parties gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the claims.

In July, Judge Calabrese called for the parties to separately submit proposals to the court outlining the specific information about each Suboxone dental claim that they believe will help identify cases that are a “representative sample” of others pending in the MDL, and “drive resolution” of the litigation.

Suboxone Lawsuit Status Conference

The parties are scheduled to meet for a two-day case management conference starting today and going through Saturday. Plaintiffs and defendants published a joint agenda (PDF) for the conference on September 30, which indicates the parties will focus on finalizing protocols for taking a census of plaintiffs who have already filed claims and the status of those cases, as well as bellwether protocols, and plaintiff profile forms.

The Court will also discuss the status of ongoing investigations into about 10,000 claims that were included on one bundled complaint this summer, which provided only basic information about each individual plaintiff to get claims filed before a potential deadline triggered by the two year anniversary of the Suboxone tooth decay warning label update in June 2022. The parties are working with the court to finalize what additional details about those claims must be provided, and what medical records or product identification information has been obtained.

During the conference, the parties also indicate they will update the Court on the status of using discovery from prior litigations involving Suboxone, production of adverse event reports, and when the next case management conference will be held.

This information, and the census data, will help the Court identify claims that are largely representative of the litigation as a whole, which will make them top choices for early trial dates.

Following the selection of a representative sample of claims, the parties will move forward with a lengthy case-specific discovery process, including the exchange of expert reports and other evidence establishing how Suboxone causes dental injuries, before a smaller group is identified for the first trial dates.

While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not have any binding impact on remaining claims, the average Suboxone dental injury lawsuit payout may impact the amount of money the drug maker will be required to pay to avoid the need for each individual lawsuit to go before a jury in the future.