CVS Lidocaine Patches Far From ‘Maximum Strength,’ Class Action Claims [UPDATE]
Last Updated on September 1, 2023
Bell v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc.
Filed: December 11, 2021 ◆§ 1:21-cv-06850
A class action alleges CVS-brand lidocaine patches do not last for up to eight or 12 hours as advertised and are not durable enough to continuously adhere to the body.
New York
September 1, 2023 – CVS Lidocaine Patches Class Action Settlement Website Is Live
The official settlement website for the lawsuit detailed on this page is live and can be found at LidocaineSettlement.com.
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Consumers covered by the deal, which received preliminary approval from Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo on July 18 of this year, have until November 20, 2023 to submit a claim.
To file a claim, head to this page and, if applicable, enter the class member ID located at the top of your emailed notice of the settlement. You do not need a class member ID in order to submit a claim for settlement benefits. If you do nothing, you will receive no benefits from the settlement and be bound by its terms.
A fairness hearing for this settlement is scheduled for December 19, 2023. The site states that payment will be distributed if and when the deal receives final approval from the court and pending the resolution of any appeals, which can take more than a year.
The settlement covers consumers who bought a CVS-brand maximum strength lidocaine patch, cream, roll-on or spray product between December 11, 2017 and July 18, 2023.
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May 3, 2023 – CVS Pharmacy Agrees to $3.8M Settlement in “Maximum Strength” Lidocaine Patches Class Action
The proposed class action lawsuit outlined on this page has been settled for $3.8 million.
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The proposed settlement, which awaits approval from the court, will cover anyone who purchased any CVS-brand “maximum strength” lidocaine patches, creams, roll-ons and spray products in the United States between December 11, 2017 and the date the deal receives preliminary approval.
As part of the proposed settlement, CVS Pharmacy will pay $3,800,000 to class members upon final approval from the court. Further, according to court records, the defendant has also agreed to change the products’ labels to “clearly identify that the [patches] contain the ‘maximum strength’ of lidocaine available over the counter … and to remove any language concerning the length of time the Products in patch form will adhere.”
The plaintiffs first notified the court of the agreement with CVS Pharmacy and filed a 31-page memo detailing the terms of the deal on April 24, 2023. The parties now await preliminary approval of the settlement terms from Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.
The memo in support of the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for preliminary settlement approval states that consumers who file valid claims without proof of purchase may recover up to $4.50 per product, for a total of three products. Those who file valid claims with proof of purchase can recover up to $4.50 for each lidocaine product they purchased, without limitation, court documents state.
ClassAction.org will update this page if and when the settlement receives preliminary approval.
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A proposed class action alleges CVS has sold over-the-counter lidocaine patches to consumers under false pretenses in that the supposedly maximum strength products do not last for up to eight or 12 hours as advertised and are not durable enough to continuously adhere to the body during regular activity.
The 25-page suit alleges that the topical anesthetic patches sold by CVS regularly peel off a consumer’s body within only a few hours, and sometimes within minutes, after being properly applied, and do not deliver the maximum lidocaine dose available in patch form. Moreover, the lawsuit claims that CVS’s lidocaine patches are not flexible enough to withstand regular activities, such as walking, sitting, stretching and sleeping, and thus fail to continuously relieve pain.
The complaint alleges CVS has known that its lidocaine patches do not live up to its adhesiveness representations based on dozens of complaints posted to its own website. Moreover, CVS knew or should have known that its lidocaine patches were defectively designed based on FDA reports and scientific studies regarding the efficacy of similar products, the case claims.
According to the lawsuit, CVS, “[i]n complete disregard of the wealth of information to the contrary,” continues to misrepresent its lidocaine patches as able to reliably adhere to a consumer’s body for up to eight or 12 hours, when, in truth, they do not. One of the risks posed by the lidocaine patches’ alleged failure to reliably stick to a consumer’s body is that if the product lifts or detaches during wear, dosing to the user may be compromised, and there exists an increased risk that others may be inadvertently exposed to the anesthetic, the case argues.
Making matters worse for consumers, the suit goes on, is that superior lidocaine patches that deliver a higher dosage exist on the market. CVS “compounds this problem” by indicating that its “maximum strength” patch is “medicated,” which thereby reinforces the misrepresentation that its lidocaine patches are comparable to prescription-strength lidocaine patches, the suit alleges.
The lawsuit goes on to contend that nothing in CVS’s lidocaine patches indicates that they provide a greater dose of lidocaine in comparison to other over-the-counter lidocaine patches. CVS’s representation that its patches contain four percent lidocaine is misleading, the suit alleges, because the actual strength of a patch is measured by the “mass of drug relative to the mass of the adhesive patch.”
“In other words,” the complaint says, “Defendant’s representation that its Lidocaine Patches contain four percent lidocaine does not indicate the actual amount of lidocaine milligrams that its Lidocaine Patches deliver to a consumer’s body.”
The case says that CVS’s lidocaine patches contain 567 milligrams of lidocaine per patch, far less than the 600 to 4,500 milligrams found in competing products.
The lawsuit looks to cover all consumers in the United States who have purchased CVS lidocaine patches.
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