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PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona court ruling gives new rights to consumers who want to sue drug manufacturers.
A state Court of Appeals' ruling Thursday revived a woman's lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company under Arizona's consumer fraud law. A trial judge had dismissed the suit alleging the company didn't tell her about the risks of taking certain medication.
The Court of Appeals had ruled in 1978 that consumers couldn't sue manufacturers under the consumer fraud law as long as the manufacturer disclosed proper warnings to doctors or other intermediaries authorized to sell or provide the product.
The latest ruling said the reasoning behind the 1978 ruling no longer applies. It said modern-day pharmaceutical marketing is increasingly aimed directly at consumers and that consumers have new access through the Internet to information about drugs.
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