Law Commons^™

This is the first article that undertakes a systematic legal analysis of the issue of liability for harm from sample prescription drugs. I propose in this Article that people who suffer injuries resulting from the absence of warnings on samples of prescription drugs be permitted to sue drug manufacturers directly in tort, the learned intermediary rule notwithstanding. I show that the various rationales for the learned intermediary doctrine do not apply to sample prescription drugs. I use empirical studies to show that the drug companies’ promotion, marketing, and packaging of sample prescription drugs put patients at risk and tort law …