Pharmaceuticals and Product Liability Law

PHARMACEUTICALS AND PRODUCT LIABILITY LAW2 I Establishing Legal Liability 

Liability law in this country draws more from the common law precedents of previously de- 

IA recent Institute of Medicine study of contraceptive R D, however, conducted an informal survey of companies currently or formerly involved in researching new methods of birth control. The committee surveyed the companies about the implications of product liability on contraceptive business, but the committee report did not provide a wide range of survey results or any information about the representativeness of the sample (207). 

1 This section provides only a rough outline of some of the more important concepts of relevance to product liability for pharmaceuticals. These legal concepts have been described more fully elsewhere (250,371,413). 

Even with these complexities, there are some common elements in pharmaceutical liability law. In determining whether the manufacturer is indeed liable for any injuries caused by the product in question, the courts tend to establish liability for pharmaceuticals in one of two ways  

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