Roche Holding AG faces a lineup of
Hollywood stars in the New Jersey trial of an actor’s lawsuit
alleging he suffered the loss of his colon after taking the
company’s Accutane acne drug.
James Marshall, who played U.S. Marine Louden Downey in the
1992 hit movie “A Few Good Men,” claims his acting career was
derailed by his use of Accutane, which Roche no longer sells.
Marshall will ask a jury to award at least $11 million in
damages at a trial starting next week that will feature
testimony from stars such as Martin Sheen and Brian Dennehy,
according to court filings.
Sheen, Dennehy and director Rob Reiner will testify that
Marshall, 43, was headed for stardom before bowel ailments
allegedly caused by Accutane forced doctors to remove his colon,
Michael Hook, the actor’s lawyer, said in an interview. Basel,
Switzerland-based Roche faces thousands of lawsuits claiming it
failed to warn patients that the drug could cause inflammatory
bowel disease in some users, Hook said.
“The jury will hear that James Marshall had the potential
to be the next James Dean-like star,” Hook said. “That dream
is gone because he took something to treat acne.”
Roche said today that Accutane’s safety label has warned
about the risks of inflammatory bowel disease for more than 20
years.
‘Responsibly Warned’
“Since 1984, Roche has responsibly warned about the
possibility of inflammatory bowel disease to the medical,
scientific and regulatory communities, even though the science
to this date questions whether such a link exists,” Christopher
Vancheri, a New Jersey-based spokesman for Roche, said in an e-
mailed statement.
About 13 million people have taken Accutane, once Roche’s
second-biggest selling drug, since it went on the market in
1982. Roche lost patent protection on the drug in 2002 and
continued to sell it along with generic competitors. In addition
to bowel disease, Accutane has been linked to birth defects and
depression.
Roche, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, pulled
its brand-name Accutane off the market in 2009 after juries
awarded millions of dollars in damages to former users over the
bowel-disease claims.
“Roche has been faced with high costs from personal-injury
lawsuits that the company continues to defend vigorously,”
company officials said in a 2009 statement.
Losing Streak
The company has lost all seven Accutane cases that have
been considered by juries since 2007, including the last three
in a row, Hook said. New Jersey and Florida juries ordered the
drugmaker to pay a total of at least $45 million in damages in
those cases, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
Appeals courts later threw out two of the verdicts,
including a 2007 award of $7 million to a Florida man who blamed
the drug for his inflammatory bowel disease. In February, an
Atlantic City, New Jersey, jury ordered Roche to pay $25.1
million to a man who attributed his inflammatory bowel disease
to Accutane. The case was a retrial of an earlier verdict that
was overturned by an appeals court.
Roche has won dismissals of Accutane cases filed in federal
court and has challenged the state court verdicts by asking
judges to throw them out or filing appeals, Vancheri said in
today’s statement.
Marshall’s case has been combined with claims by two other
former Accutane users for trial before Judge Carol Higbee in
state court in Atlantic City.
Accutane is made by Roche unit Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc. of
Nutley, New Jersey, allowing Marshall, Gillian Gaghan and Kelley
Andrews to bring their claims in the state. All three are
California residents. Andrews, 29, is an account manager while
Gaghan, 34, is a nursing assistant.
Family Friend
All three contend the drug left them struggling to deal
with their bodily wastes, Hook said. Both Andrews and Marshall
battle incontinence while Gaghan has developed lupus as a result
of taking drugs to deal with her Accutane-linked bowel disease,
the lawyer said.
Sheen, 69, who appeared in films such as “Apocalypse Now”
and “Wall Street,” has known Marshall since he was a baby,
Hook said.
Sheen met Marshall’s family in New York while Sheen was a
young actor, Hook said. Marshall’s father was a publicist for
Radio City Music Hall and Marshall’s mother danced with the
Rockettes, the lawyer said.
Marshall was born James Greenblatt in 1967, according to
court filings. The family moved to California from Bergen
County, New Jersey, in the 1980s, Hook said.
Sheen is scheduled to testify in person about Marshall’s
potential as an actor, Hook said. Other Hollywood figures on
Marshall’s witness list include Reiner, who directed Marshall in
“A Few Good Men.” Reiner, 63, is also known for his role as
Michael “Meathead” Stivic in the 1970s television sitcom “All
in the Family.”
Actors, Executive
Reiner, who will testify by videotaped deposition, will
tell jurors Marshall had a bright future in the entertainment
business that was cut short by his Accutane-related illnesses,
Hook said.
Dennehy 72, who appeared in films such as the 1977 pro
football comedy “Semi-Tough” and the 1983 Cold War thriller
“Gorky Park,” will appear in person along with Esai Morales,
who played a police lieutenant on the TV series “NYPD Blue” in
the early 1990s, according to court filings.
Marshall also will call Rick Nicita, chairman of
independent film producer Morgan Creek Productions and a former
Hollywood talent agent, to tell jurors about Marshall’s
potential in the entertainment industry, Hook said.
The case is Greenblatt v. Hoffman-La Roche Inc., ATL-l-
1246-06, New Jersey Superior Court, Atlantic County (Atlantic
City).
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at
jfeeley@bloomberg.net.
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