Decongestant False-Ad Suit Gets Thrown Out on Preemption Grounds

Consumer allegations that Procter & Gamble Co., Bayer HealthCare LLC, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., and other cold medicine makers knowingly sold ineffective over-the-counter decongestants containing phenylephrine were shot down after a federal judge said the claims were preempted by federal law.

Nothing in the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug’s monograph “suggests that manufacturers have a freestanding duty to update their indications in response to new scientific information,” Judge Brian M. Cogan of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York said Tuesday.

Cogan noted that it was “unclear” whether ...