Martin Calhoun and Eric Lasker Secure Victory for Novartis in Sixth Circuit Iqbal/Twombly decision

In Patterson v. NPC, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the granting of a motion to dismiss in a case in which the plaintiff's complaint failed to allege whether she had received name-brand Aredia or the generic version of the drug. The court held that the complaint's "and/or" language only alleged that the plaintiff may have received the name-brand drug and such a pleading failed to satisfy the standard elucidated by the Supreme Court in Twombly and Iqbal. The appeals court further held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff the right to take discovery, noting that Twombly and Iqbal do not permit a plaintiff to take discovery to cure a pleading defect. Finally, the court held that plaintiff could not rely upon evidence outside of the pleading because she failed to request that the motion to dismiss be converted into one for summary judgment, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying leave to amend.

This case arose as part of the Aredia/Zometa MDL proceeding, pending before Judge Todd J. Campbell in the Middle District of Tennessee. Novartis is represented in the MDL proceeding by Hollingsworth LLP.