Pfizer is being sued, again. In 2023, the company made headlines when Texas’ Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit claiming that Pfizer “unlawfully misrepresented” its COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness, as Liberty Nation News reported. Now the manufacturer is being taken to task for not warning consumers that receiving the Depo-Provera birth control shot may increase a woman’s chance of developing brain tumors.
Pfizer in the Hot Seat Again
The lawsuit against Pfizer came after a study published in March 2024 by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that found people who took the contraceptive shot for a year or more were up to 5.6 times more likely to develop a slow-growing brain tumor known as meningioma. According to a press release on May 28 of this year, “The lawsuits allege that Pfizer and other generic producers of Depo-Provera were aware of the link between these birth control injections and brain tumors and that they failed to adequately warn of the risk and promote safer alternatives.”
Pfizer allegedly acknowledged its awareness of the risk and, back in 2015, added warning labels to products sent to Canada. The company also placed warning notices on the product in the UK and Europe in 2024 and issued a note to healthcare professionals in South Africa shortly after the BMJ study came out. However, “Pfizer has never provided an equivalent warning to women in the United States, highlighting inconsistent global safety standards.”
The Lawsuit Information Center’s website provides news and updates to the Depo-Provera lawsuit and is reviewing the cases as they appear. According to it:
“Pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer have a legal duty to ensure their products are reasonably safe and to provide clear warnings about known or foreseeable risks. Under the doctrine of strict liability for failure to warn, a manufacturer can be held liable even if the drug is not defective in design, so long as it failed to adequately inform patients and prescribers about serious side effects.”
Plaintiffs complain of headaches, migraines, dizziness, and tremors. Some have had to have surgery to remove the tumors or radiation treatments to try to shrink them. Cases are continuing to grow, according to the Lawsuit Information Center website. “As of June 1, 2025, there are 348 active cases pending, up from 289 just one month earlier. That is a 20.4% increase in filings in a single month, which is a substantial jump by any measure for a litigation still in its early stages.”
BMJ is not the only source to release studies linking brain tumors to the use of Depo-Provera. Researchers at the University of British Columbia, in a study published in February, found that women who use the birth control injection for more than a year had a 3.55-fold increased risk of developing a meningioma. The risk also increases the longer the prescription is taken. That percentage is different than BMJ’s findings because it was only based on “eight exposed cases,” among other issues, the Lawsuit Information Center explained.
Depo-Provera’s History
Depo-Provera contains the synthetic hormone progestin, which prevents pregnancy by blocking the release of eggs during ovulation. To be most effective, recipients are encouraged to get the shot every three months. It is also commonly prescribed to manage symptoms related to endometriosis and other gynecological conditions.
The drug was initially approved in 1969 in France, but it wasn’t until 1992 that the US Food and Drug Administration approved it as a contraceptive. Still, there was a lot of controversy, especially regarding long-term effects. In 1983, for instance, a study published in the European Journal of Cancer & Clinical Oncology found a high concentration of progesterone receptors in human meningioma cells. Researchers discovered that progesterone, not estrogen, might be the key driver in growing these tumors.
So, why no warnings for US consumers, despite the various studies and notifications around the world? “Had the company disclosed the meningioma risk, the likely consequence would have been a decline in sales,” the Lawsuit Information Center noted. “Patients would have had the opportunity to choose from safer contraceptive options, and healthcare providers would have been more cautious in prescribing Depo-Provera, particularly for long-term use. Greater transparency could have fundamentally changed the risk-benefit calculus for countless women.”
Would a warning label in the US have prevented any brain tumors? Maybe, maybe not. But at least the women who chose to use the product in spite of the suspected link to meningioma could say they made an informed decision. Of course, many would have chosen differently had they been forewarned – and that would be bad for the bottom line.
