land Court rejects Thimerosal - autism link

January 19, 2008

Wyeth has announced that The Honorable Stuart R. Berger of the

Circuit Court for Baltimore City in Baltimore, land, has granted

Wyeth's motion to preclude plaintiffs' expert witnesses in an alleged

vaccine injury case from testifying that exposure to thimerosal-

containing vaccines can cause autism.

The court's decision, in the case of Blackwell, et al. v. Sigma

Aldrich, Inc., et al., followed a 10-day evidentiary hearing held

last August.

Judge Berger found that " thimerosal in vaccines does not cause or

contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, " noting

that " it is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community

that autism is genetic in origin except in rare instances of prenatal

exposures to certain substances at defined periods during pregnancy. "

Judge Berger held that plaintiffs had failed to show that the

methodologies underlying their expert witnesses' opinions are

generally accepted as reliable in the scientific community. He also

held that plaintiffs' expert witnesses were not qualified " by

knowledge, skill, experience, training or education " or that they

could not set forth a sufficient factual basis to support the

causation opinions that plaintiffs wished to present to the jury.

" We believe that the court's decision is in complete accord with the

overwhelming scientific evidence that there is no link between

vaccines and autism. The court correctly applied land law to bar

unfounded opinion testimony on scientific issues, " says J.

ch, lead trial counsel for Wyeth in this litigation, who is a

partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

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