• What happened: A California judge recently ruled that a pharmaceutical company could be held negligent for failing to develop better products faster. 
  • The plaintiffs in this lawsuit don’t allege that the company produced a safe or ineffective drug, but that it could have brought a better drug to market sooner, but didn’t.
  • The company says early trials didn’t indicate that the drug would be safer or more effective.
• Why it matters: The appellate court affirmed the ruling, saying it didn’t create a “duty to innovate,” but it could obligate companies to bring products to market regardless of their technical or commercial viability. And it could potentially apply to any commercial product on the market.

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