Novo Nordisk Beats Appeal in Diabetes Drug Cancer Litigation

Novo Nordisk Inc. was properly granted judgment in litigation alleging its diabetes drug Victoza caused pancreatic cancer, because the consumers offered no admissible evidence linking the medication to the disease, the Ninth Circuit said.

Jean Adams and others initially sued Novo Nordisk, along with Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Amylin Pharmaceuticals LLC, and Eli Lilly and Co. The suits were combined in a multidistrict proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

The drugmakers previously won judgment on arguments that federal law blocked the plaintiffs’ warning-based claims, prompting their first appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals ...