Expert Witness In Reglan Litigation Disputes General Causation

Dr. Michael Halpern, an expert witness retained by First DataBank, disputes that Reglan can cause tardive dyskinesia.  This report was prepared in 2005, well before the Reglan Black Box Warning came out.  The Black Box warning confirms that Reglan does in fact cause tardive dyskinesia if taken for long periods of time.  Still, it is interesting to review an expert witness report in a Reglan lawsuit:

Thus, using the class of evidence rated most highly by the Oxford University Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, systematic reviews of clinical trials, rates for depression, Parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia, and suicidality among patients receiving Reglan are similar to or lower than the rates of these symptoms spontaneously occurring in the elderly population. It can therefore be concluded that there is no evidence that Reglan causes these symptoms in general. Dr. Breggin's conclusion of general causation (that is, that Reglan causes depression, Parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia, and suicidality) is not supported by the scientific evidence.

The expert who prepared this report works for a company called Exponent, which is generally well-regarded.