POSTED JUNE 22, 2009

In January 2009, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS), the country’s most prominent association of oral surgeons, published a “Position Paper” representing that organization’s views about osteoncrosis of the jaw related to bisphosphonate drugs. While we do not necessarily agree with everything in the article, we think it is worthwhile to read as it provides a lot of information about the drugs, the disease, treatment and prevention. Click here to read the AAOMS Position Paper.

Tennessee Cases

When we last reported to you, the parties were in the midst of expert discovery, the last phase of the litigation before actual trials.

As you may recall, we designated nine expert witnesses to support our claim that Novartis knew or should have known about ONJ before it started selling Aredia and Zometa. Novartis designated more than 30 experts to defend its position that there is no scientific proof that Aredia and Zometa cause ONJ. Novartis has advanced this position despite more than 5,000 reported cases of ONJ worldwide and more than 800 articles discussing the subject.

All of the experts have now been deposed and the initial round of motions has been filed challenging the credentials and testimony of the experts. After some additional briefing, the Court will hold a hearing on July 27, 2009 in Nashville to rule on the challenges.

Once the Court rules on the motions, and assuming the plaintiffs prevail, the first ten trial cases will be sent to courts in the plaintiffs’ home states for trial. The exact date of any trial will be determined by each individual court, based on the judge’s trial schedule.

Tennessee District Court denies Novartis' motion for summary judgment. Click for more details.

New Jersey Cases

For those cases currently being overseen by Judge Happas in New Jersey, the Court recently issued a scheduling order in which she identified March 8, 2010 as the first trial date for the 150 or so cases pending in New Jersey. Over the next two months, the parties will be conducting discovery (mostly depositions) in 12 of those cases. In August, the list of 12 cases will be narrowed to five, and those five cases will comprise the first five trial cases. Between August 2009 and March 2010, further work will be done on those cases to get them ready for trial.