Hardin

BACKGROUND

Kathleen Hardin suffered complete blindness and permanent, severe and painful scarring after she began taking Lamotrigine, the generic form of the medication Lamictal. According to her complaint, Hardin later learned that Lamotrigine carries a significant risk of causing Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and associated toxic epidermal necrolysis that resulted in her injuries, particularly when taken in combination with another of her prescribed medications. Hardin and her husband1 filed suit for negligence and product liability against multiple defendants, including the physician who prescribed her Lamotrigine, GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactured it, Safeway, Inc., where she purchased it, and

1For simplicity, we will refer to plaintiffs jointly as Hardin. 1 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. (WKH), which produced the drug information pamphlet, or monograph, Safeway provided when it filled Hardin’s prescription. WKH monographs offer summaries of information from official FDA physician package inserts and patient medication guides written in lay language for consumers and are intended to provide a written supplement to the oral counseling patients receive from their pharmacists…