Infuse Cases Dismissed
An Ohio federal court has dismissed five cases brought against Medtronic alleging state-law liability over off-label use of its Infuse product used to stimulate bone growth in spinal fusion surgeries. The plaintiffs’ complaints involved fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation, failure to warn, design defect, misrepresentation, negligence, and breach of expressed and implied warranties. All five plaintiffs said they had suffered harm through use of Infuse.
In a detailed opinion, the court held that all but the fraud claims were an attempt to use state law to overcome federal preemption of such claims by FDA. And it found that the fraud claim was not sufficiently pleaded to meet requirements.