• Washington Post, Thursday, March 5, 2009 10:45 AM

In a major setback to pharmaceutical companies, which face thousands of lawsuits in state courts from patients who allege that drugs have harmed them, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in favor of a Vermont woman whose arm had to be amputated after an improper injection of an anti-nausea medication, Robert Barnes reports.

The woman convinced a Vermont jury that Wyeth could have strengthened its warnings about the dangers of Phenergan, which she was administered during treatment for a migraine. She won an award of almost $7 million.

The Food and Drug Administration had changed its policy in 2006 and adopted rules that said the agency's approval of a drug insulated drug makers from state lawsuits. But the justices, in a 6 to 3 vote, said otherwise. Earlier this term, the court said federal laws about cigarette labeling do not stand in the way of suits under state laws regulating fraudulent marketing practices.

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