Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RAs)
Centralized before Judge Karen S. Marston in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in February 2024, the GLP-1 RAs litigation consolidates federal claims against manufacturers of GLP-1 receptor agonist medications, alleging that gastroparesis and other gastrointestinal injuries resulted from inadequately disclosed side effects of this widely prescribed drug class. With 4,022 actions pending, this is among the largest active pharmaceutical mass torts in the federal system, reflecting both the scale of the drug class's use and the breadth of the alleged injury theory.
The docket's procedural history includes a notable disruption: it was originally assigned to a different presiding judge, who passed away during the litigation's early phase, and was subsequently reassigned to Judge Marston. That kind of mid-litigation judicial transition can introduce scheduling delay, though the reassignment itself does not change the underlying substantive issues the court must resolve — chiefly, whether general causation between GLP-1 receptor agonist use and gastroparesis can be established, and how that causation theory holds up across a claimant population using different specific drugs within the class, at different doses, for different underlying conditions.
A bellwether program is expected as the next major structural development, intended to identify representative cases from the pending pool that can test the litigation's central causation theories before a jury; no bellwether trial date had been set as of the most recent update. Because this drug class is used by an unusually large patient population for both diabetes and weight management, the eventual scale of this docket — and how efficiently the bellwether process can organize a claim pool this large — will be a significant driver of overall resolution timing. Criterica Intelligence's platform tracks bellwether-program formation and judicial-transition effects like this across every active MDL, providing a structural read without predicting a specific causation finding.
Plaintiffs allege that GLP-1 receptor agonist medications caused gastroparesis and other gastrointestinal injuries that were not adequately disclosed to patients and prescribers.
The litigation was originally assigned to a different judge, who passed away during the early phase of the litigation, and was subsequently reassigned to Judge Karen S. Marston in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
A bellwether program is expected to be established to identify representative cases from the pending pool that can test the litigation's central causation theories, though no trial date has been set yet.
Because the GLP-1 receptor agonist drug class is used by an unusually large patient population, the eventual scale of the claim pool — and how efficiently it can be organized for bellwether purposes — will significantly shape resolution timing.
Statistics shown reflect historical or illustrative model outputs derived from real case data. They are not predictions or guarantees of any individual outcome. Litigation results depend on facts, jurisdiction, judge, and counsel, and vary case by case. Model accuracy is subject to selection effects and changing legal dynamics.