Wagstaff & Cartmell represents women who developed meningioma brain tumors after receiving Depo-Provera contraceptive injections. The Court appointed Brandon Henry to the Trial Subcommittee in this litigation, a position reserved for just six lawyers selected from a nationwide applicant pool. Tom Cartmell also serves in a leadership role in the MDL.
About The Case
Depo-Provera is a long-acting injectable contraceptive containing medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), a synthetic form of the hormone progestin. Approved by the FDA in 1992 and manufactured by Pfizer, the drug has been administered to millions of women across the United States as a quarterly birth control injection. In early 2024, a large-scale observational study published in the British Medical Journal found that injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate was associated with a significantly increased risk of intracranial meningioma — a type of tumor that develops in the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Some women who received the injections over extended periods faced more than five times the normal risk of developing these brain tumors. While meningiomas are often classified as noncancerous, they can cause serious and life-altering symptoms, including vision loss, hearing loss, memory problems, seizures, and the need for neurosurgery.
In response to the growing body of evidence, dozens of lawsuits were filed against Pfizer and other manufacturers and distributors of Depo-Provera and its generic equivalents. On February 7, 2025, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the cases into MDL No. 3140, transferring them to the Northern District of Florida under the Honorable M. Casey Rodgers. The litigation has grown rapidly. As of March 2026, approximately 3,790 unique plaintiffs are part of the federal MDL, with additional cases pending in state courts across the country, including more than 330 in Delaware, 70 in New York, and others in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Mexico. The Court has selected five pilot cases for early preparation and has scheduled general causation expert depositions, a critical phase in establishing the scientific link between Depo-Provera use and meningioma development.
A central issue in the litigation is Pfizer’s federal preemption defense. Pfizer contends that the FDA’s 2024 rejection of a proposed warning label change prevents plaintiffs from pursuing state-law failure-to-warn claims. Plaintiffs argue that the FDA rejected the specific language Pfizer proposed — not the concept of a warning — and that Pfizer had the authority to independently strengthen its label. The FDA ultimately added a meningioma warning to the Depo-Provera label in December 2025. Judge Rodgers is currently reviewing the preemption motion, a ruling that could significantly shape the trajectory of the entire litigation.
Wagstaff & Cartmell is actively involved in the prosecution of this MDL. Brandon Henry was appointed to the Trial Subcommittee, one of the most selective leadership positions in the litigation, responsible for preparing and presenting cases for trial on behalf of all plaintiffs in the MDL. Tom Cartmell also serves in a leadership capacity. The firm represents women across the country who were diagnosed with meningioma after long-term use of Depo-Provera, and the firm’s team is engaged in the discovery, expert development, and trial preparation phases of this fast-moving national litigation.