A recent lawsuit filed November 4, 2024, claims that Pfizer—the pharmaceutical giant epitomizing what’s grossly wrong in American health care—failed to warn patients that its injectable contraceptive drug Depo-Provera can increase the risk of developing brain tumors in women. In other words, Pfizer is accused of hiding the fact its contraceptive caused brain tumors. Specifically, the plaintiff in the suit claims that Depo-Provera, which contains a high-dose progestin administered every three months, caused her to develop an intracranial meningioma, a type of brain tumor, after taking the drug regularly as prescribed for years. Her case joins a growing list of lawsuits stacking up against Pfizer, which reports it expects revenues of a whopping $61 billion in 2024.

The first Depo-Provera meningioma lawsuit was filed in October 2024 by a woman who used the contraceptive method between 2005 and 2021. Since then, along with Devorak’s suit filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, multiple lawsuits have been filed across the United States alleging that Pfizer knew or should have known about the link between its popular drug and brain tumors. More cancer lawsuits are likely coming, as roughly 24.5 percent of all sexually active women in the US have used Depo-Provera at some point, thus putting hundreds of thousands of American women at risk.

Depo-Provera is a contraceptive injection used to prevent pregnancy. The lawsuit alleges its active ingredient, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), may increase a woman’s risk of developing intracranial meningiomas, which are brain tumors that can be very dangerous to a woman’s health. The lawsuits filed against Depo-Provera manufacturers, which include Pfizer and its subsidiaries that developed and sold Depo-Provera and its approved generic version, allege they knew their drug could cause brain tumors, cancers, and bone loss. Yet, they failed to warn doctors and patients about these risks. Further, Pfizer and other defendants are accused of dismissing or downplaying adverse event reports. Sound familiar? Lawsuits declare the companies failed to make timely updates to the Depo-Provera’s label and sufficiently warn people about the risks of these conditions. Instead, in a narrative that is all too familiar, the lawsuits state manufacturers ignored growing evidence, prioritizing profits and market share over patient safety.

A November 14, 2024 case filed in Nevada’s District Court against Pfizer and several generic pharmaceutical manufacturers contends that despite mounting evidence, the companies failed to include warnings on US labels about the brain tumor risk, even though labels in Canada and the European Union had begun to state the warnings. The complaint argues that Pfizer and the other defendants knew or should have known of the “highly increased risk of brain tumors” based on “decades of scientific literature” that documented a correlation between high-dose progestin birth control drugs and brain tumor development. The complaint references research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in March 2024 discovering that women who used Depo-Provera for more than a year had a 5.6-fold increased risk of developing meningiomas. The lawsuits claim this shocking finding is further evidence that the defendants failed to adequately inform consumers and the medical community in the US, even updating Depo-Provera labels in July 2024 but still overlooking a warning about meningiomas.

The BMJ study warned that not just the contraceptive Depo-Provera, but two drugs used for menopause relief could also be linked to a heightened risk for brain tumors. Led by Noémie Roland, a general practitioner and epidemiologist with French National Health Insurance in Saint-Denis, France, the BMJ study research team painted a scary scenario regarding Depo-Provera, concluding:

“In countries for which the use of medroxyprogesterone acetate for birth control is frequent [74 million users worldwide], the number of attributable meningiomas may be potentially high.”

Indeed, Big Pharma’s attack is not just on women of reproductive age (and, with declining sperm rates, obesity, and turbo cancers, it’s also not just on women, but men and even children). The BMJ study found that the menopausal hormone therapy drugs medrogestone and promegestone increased the risk of intracranial meningiomas by 4.1-fold and 2.7-fold, respectively. All three drugs—the two for menopause and Depo-Provera—contain progestogens, which are similar to the natural hormone progesterone. Besides being used to treat menopause and prevent pregnancy, this class of drugs is also used to treat endometriosis and ovarian cysts.

Pfizer has acknowledged the potential risk of developing meningiomas associated with the long-term use of progestogens, such as those found in Depo-Provera. In response to the aforementioned BMJ study published in The BMJ that identified a significant increase in meningioma risk among long-term users of Depo-Provera, Pfizer said in a statement:

“We are aware of this potential risk associated with long-term use of progestogens and, in collaboration with regulatory agencies, are in the process of updating product labels and patient information leaflets with appropriate wording.”

Pfizer’s statement undoubtedly indicates it recognizes there are risks associated with the long-term use of its drug. However, as of December 2024, there is no public record of Pfizer issuing specific responses to any individual lawsuits alleging that Depo-Provera caused meningiomas. Instead, in the same cavalier manner in which it vehemently defended itself against criminal actions to hide the harms of the deadly COVID-19 jabs, the company has expressed its commitment to defending against these claims. Responding to questions from 8NewsNow Las Vegas, Pfizer declared:

“Depo-Provera has been an FDA-approved medication for more than 30 years and has been a safe and effective treatment option for millions of patients during that time. The company will vigorously defend these lawsuits.”