Veterans lawsuit against makers of antimalarial drug gets new life on appeal
A class-action lawsuit by veterans against the makers of mefloquine, an antimalarial drug, has been revived by an appeals court.Summary
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit brought by four former service members – Andrea Caston, Richard Githens, Patrick Wagher, and Kendrick Allen – against Roche and Genentech, the manufacturers and distributors of mefloquine. The veterans allege they suffered lasting neuropsychiatric side effects, including pain, sleep disturbances, and cognitive decline, after taking the drug during deployments to Africa and Afghanistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A lower court had dismissed the case, but the appeals court determined the ‘political question doctrine’ does not prevent the suit against Genentech from proceeding.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of prioritizing “wartime profits” over the well-being of service members, claiming they knowingly provided a drug that caused “significant and irreversible neuropsychiatric harms,” comparing the issue to “the modern-day version of Agent Orange.” While the case against Roche affiliates was upheld as dismissed, the court sent the claims against Genentech back for review, allowing the veterans to amend their complaint regarding a proposed medical monitoring program.
Mefloquine was developed by the Army during the Vietnam War and approved by the FDA in 1989. It was widely used in deployments to Afghanistan and Somalia, but in 2013, the FDA required a warning label highlighting its neuropsychiatric side effects, leading the military to reclassify it as a “drug of last resort.” The veterans are seeking funding for medical monitoring, including screening, treatment, and rehabilitation.
(Source：Stars and Stripes)