Opinion: Did Merck circumvent its duty to warn on ‘Fosamax fractures’?

How would you feel if you were harmed by a medicine you took as prescribed and then learned that the drug company wasn’t liable — even though it knew about the risk and didn’t tell you or your doctor?

This is exactly what has happened in the case of Fosamax (alendronate), a drug used to treat bone-thinning osteoporosis and osteopenia. After it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and women across the country began taking the drug, the FDA and its maker, Merck, started receiving reports about spontaneous fractures of the thigh bone among women taking the drug.

These fractures, dubbed “Fosamax fractures,” happen with no warning and. Although they are a rare side effect of the drug, millions of women have taken the drug. While the true number of Fosamax fractures isn’t known, about 500 women have sued Merck for failing to warn them about the risk of this painful and possibly debilitating side effect. These lawsuits are at the heart of a case, , that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 7, 2019.