B.C. Court Finds Methodology To Prove Causation Is Required To Certify Pharmaceutical Class Actions

INTRODUCTION

On January 22, 2015, the British Columbia Court of Appeal set aside certification of a class action against Apotex Inc. and Abbott Laboratories Ltd. in Charlton v. Abbott Laboratories Ltd. (Charlton), in which the plaintiffs allege that the medicine sibutramine (sold under the brand name Meridia by Abbott), an antidepressant that is also used for weight loss, had led to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke. The plaintiffs' experts had not adduced any evidence on the certification application that there was a methodology to prove causation. The Court of Appeal held that where plaintiffs propose to certify a common issue regarding causation, there must be some evidence that the question may be resolved on a class-wide basis. The trial judge erred and did not properly exercise his gatekeeping function in failing to require "some evidence" of such a methodology to address the central proposed common issue of causation