In March, neurosurgeons and researchers in France published a large case control study in the British Medical Journal that found women who continually took the contraceptive Depo-Provera had a 550% higher chance of developing brain tumors.
Since the study came out, plaintiffs firms have been taking calls from women who took Depo-Provera and were diagnosed with a form of brain tumor called intracranial meningioma. On Tuesday, Weitz & Luxenberg filed the first lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. and several affiliated companies that sell the authorized generic form of Depo-Provera. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
“It’s a massively significant increased risk,” said Ellen Relkin of Weitz & Luxenberg in New York. “The study findings were for women who took it for at least a year, and the findings were more compelling even if they were on it for more than three years. Which makes sense. The higher the dose, the longer the duration, the greater likelihood of a problem.”
And the brain tumors, while usually not cancerous, often require removal. “It puts pressure on the neurovascular structure in the brain,” Relkin said. “It causes seizures, dizziness and vision problems.”
She said her firm already has a few hundred cases and predicted thousands could get filed over Depo-Provera, used by nearly 2 million American women. Tuesday’s lawsuit was filed by Kristina Schmidt, who lives in Pleasanton, California. She took about 64 injections of Depo-Provera or its generic equivalent from 2005 to 2021 but, in 2022, at age 37, she had an MRI after suffering “disturbing symptoms” such as severe headaches, dizziness and vertigo, the lawsuit says. She had brain surgery to remove a meningioma.
Relkin plans to speak about Depo-Provera as emerging litigation at the annual plaintiffs’ bar gathering Mass Torts Made Perfect, to be held next week in Las Vegas.
Pfizer, in a statement, said, “The company believes that the claims lack merit and we intend to vigorously defend against them.”
Chronic Headaches, Epilepsy, Lost Vision
Depo-Provera, administered as a shot every three months to stop menstruation, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1992 for use as a contraceptive and, later, treatment of endometriosis. At that time, it was manufactured and sold by Upjohn, which Pfizer later acquired.
Tuesday’s lawsuit said Pfizer didn’t test Depo-Provera despite prior studies finding links between progesterone-inhibiting agents and Depo-Provera, in particular, and intracranial meningioma. In the United Kingdom and European Union, Depo-Provera now carries a warning: “Meningiomas have been reported following long term administration of progestogens, including medroxyprogesterone acetate.”
“Pfizer recognized that this drug was causing these issues and decided they would not necessarily recall but that they would issue some sort of warning label,” said Chelsie Green, of Levin Papantonio Proctor Buchanan O’Brien Barr Mougey, in Pensacola, Florida. “And we have not seen that in the United States, but we have seen that in European countries.”
Green said her firm, which co-hosts Mass Torts Made Perfect, plans to file Depo-Provera cases “very quickly.”
Most of the women impacted took Depo-Provera for prolonged periods of time, she said. Many had surgeries to remove the tumors, but some were inoperable.
“We are continuing to evaluate calls, but we have received a number from women who have suffered from varying symptoms such as cognitive deficits, memory loss, lost vision in one or both eyes,” she said. “They suffer from chronic headaches, fatigue. Some have developed epilepsy and have to take seizure medication. Not to mention the mental anguish these diseases bring on because you have depression and anxiety having to deal with the side effects of the tumor.”