Depo-Provera Lawsuit

Depo-Provera is a birth control shot that contains the progestin hormone. It hit the U.S. market more than 30 years ago and was the first female birth control method to be advertised on TV.

Marketed as a safe, convenient and effective contraceptive, it became a popular choice for women.

About one in four sexually experienced women have used Depo at some point, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, citing data from 2015 to 2019. It has also been used as a treatment for endometriosis.

However, recent research has uncovered alarming health issues that may be tied to Depo. A study published in The BMJ in March found that users of the drug are at a significantly higher risk of developing a type of tumor called meningioma.

Women are now filing Depo shot lawsuits because they developed meningiomas after using the birth control injection. They argue that the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, knew or should have known about the risk and did not adequately warn them.

“I was told how great Depo-Provera was, and I thought it would be more reliable and convenient since I wouldn’t have to take it daily,” one woman who filed a lawsuit told Drugwatch in a recent article. “I had no idea it would lead to such serious health problems.”

Allegations Against Pfizer

Drug companies are legally required to disclose side effects to the Food and Drug Administration and consumers.

Women who have filed Depo-Provera lawsuits say they would have opted for different birth control options had they known about the possibility of tumors. They argue Pfizer’s negligence and failure to warn of the potential risk of developing a meningioma exposed them to significant health issues.

“Defendants ignored reports from patients and health care providers throughout the United States which indicated that Depo-Provera failed to perform as intended,” lawsuits state. “…Defendants continued to falsely and misleadingly market Depo-Provera as a safe and effective prescription drug for contraception and other indications.”

According to lawsuits, the Depo-Provera U.S. label includes information on Depo-Provera side effects and a black box warning related to bone density. But, it does not mention the risk of meningioma.

But that isn’t the case in other parts of the world.

Lawsuits claim that labels in the United Kingdom and European Union now include meningiomas under the “special warnings and precautions for use” section. The EU label advises patients to tell their doctors if they have a history of meningioma before taking Depo-Provera.

Additionally, labels for the drug in Canada have listed meningiomas as a post-market adverse drug reaction since at least 2015.

“Defendants knew or should have known for decades that Depo-Provera, when administered and prescribed as intended, can cause or substantially contribute to the development of meningiomas,” lawsuits state.

Exposing Depo-Provera Risks

The study published in The BMJ in March found that Depo-Provera users had a 5.6-fold increase in the risk of developing a meningioma. That risk increased with one year or more of use.

While recent Depo-Provera lawsuits stem from the new meningioma study, questions have existed for decades regarding Depo-Provera’s ingredients and their potential ties to brain tumors.

“We believe Pfizer and others knew for many years about the risk of developing meningioma associated with Depo-Provera,” Brendan McDonough, an associate attorney with Weitz & Luxenberg’s Drug and Medical Device Litigation practice group, told Drugwatch.

Depo-Provera is known chemically as medroxyprogesterone acetate. It contains the hormone progestin, a synthetic version of the naturally occurring progesterone. Past research has linked this type of hormone to meningiomas.

A study published in 1986 found that meningiomas contain a high number of progestin receptors, suggesting that there could be a connection between hormone levels and the development of meningiomas.

Less than a decade later, another study further demonstrated a link when it determined that antiprogesterone could help treat meningiomas.

Women who developed a meningioma after using Depo-Provera may be eligible to file a lawsuit. Lawyers are also accepting cases from those who took Depo-SubQ Provera — which delivers a lower dosage — or authorized generic versions of the drug.

To qualify for a lawsuit, you typically must have taken the drug at least two times before later developing a meningioma. You may not be eligible if you have received only a single Depo shot or if you had already been diagnosed with a meningioma before you began receiving shots.

“The signature injury is cerebral meningioma, which is a tumor of the meningeal lining of the brain that can press on sensitive brain structures and cause severe problems including seizures, headaches, vision loss, and even death,” Brendan Smith, a partner at Simmons Hanly Conroy in the Complex Litigation Department, told Drugwatch.

Depo and Meningiomas: What You Need To Know

Meningiomas are not technically brain tumors because they don’t start in brain tissue. They form in the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. But they’re often referred to as brain tumors in the medical community.

According to Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins Medicine, meningiomas are the most common brain tumors and are generally benign, but they can cause significant health effects and require invasive surgeries to remove.

One Depo lawsuit stated that plaintiff Kathleen Fazio had surgery to remove a meningioma after taking the drug for years. However, complications from that surgery left her with blurred and double vision. Her senses of taste and smell diminished as well.

Meningiomas may grow unnoticed until they are large enough to press on the surrounding structures of your brain. Symptoms of meningiomas mentioned in lawsuits include headaches and vision issues.

The plaintiff in one Depo lawsuit told Drugwatch that “dealing with the side effects was brutal.”

“Don’t ignore what’s happening to you,” she said. “These side effects aren’t just something to push through — they can be life-changing. Make sure you’re getting checked and take action now. If I’d known what I was facing, I would have sought help sooner.”

You can connect with an experienced product liability lawyer by signing up for a free case evaluation here on Drugwatch.

After reviewing your form submission, our legal partners will contact you to ask a few questions about your Depo-Provera use. Then, they will let you know if they can help.

Drugwatch’s partners have decades of experience taking on companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Bayer and Pfizer — the maker of Depo-Provera.

If you are interested in filing a lawsuit, lawyers recommend you gather any relevant medical records.

“People should expect to provide their medical history, including their usage of Depo-Provera and any history of pregnancy and other hormonal contraceptive use, as well as diagnosis and treatment information related to their meningioma,” Smith said.

Timeline for Lawsuits and Settlements

The time limit for filing a legal claim, also known as a statute of limitations, will vary depending on where you live. So, it’s important to speak with a Depo attorney about a potential claim as soon as possible.

Depo shot lawsuits remain in the early stages, with lawyers continuing to investigate and accept new cases as the litigation grows.

In early February 2025, a federal judicial panel transfered 27 cases pending in eight districts to the Northern District of Florida and assigned them to Judge Casey Rodgers for coordinated and consolidated pretrial proceedings. According to the order, another 41 related cases were also pending in fifteen districts.

This legal procedure is known as multidistrict litigation (MDL). It groups similar lawsuits and transfers them to one court before one judge. MDLs help streamline and speed up the litigation process.

“The Northern District of Florida is an appropriate transferee district for this litigation,” the panel wrote in its order. “Two related actions are pending in this district, which offers the necessary judicial resources and expertise to manage this nationwide litigation in an efficient and convenient manner. Judge M. Casey Rodgers, to whom we assign this MDL, is an able jurist with extensive and exceptional experience presiding over large products liability MDLs. We are confident that she will steer this litigation on a prudent and expeditious course.”

While the concerns surrounding Depo-Provera’s ties to meningiomas are new, the drug has been linked to other health-related issues in the past.

Depo underwent a bumpy approval process for use as a contraceptive. The FDA initially approved the drug for that use in 1974 but then reversed its decision over concerns regarding cervical cancer risk.

It took nearly 20 more years for it to finally receive approval. The FDA approved Depo for contraceptive use in 1992 after new research from the World Health Organization determined there was no connection between the drug and cervical or ovarian cancer.

Some women then filed lawsuits in the early 2000s over claims that Depo could lower bone density. The FDA added a black box warning to the drug in 2004, stating that its users “may lose significant bone mineral density.” Boxed warnings are the most serious labels the FDA requires.

However, there were no notable settlements or jury verdicts in the U.S.

Plaintiffs have also filed past lawsuits that claimed Depo-Provera could cause pseudotumor cerebri, a condition that occurs when pressure builds up in the brain, mimicking a tumor.

Plaintiffs are pursuing several different types of monetary compensation, or damages.

Lawsuits reference general damages for “severe physical pain, mental suffering, inconvenience, and loss of the enjoyment of life.”

Additionally, special damages are also included in lawsuits to cover things like medical expenses and loss of earnings related to meningioma diagnosis and treatment.

“My life has become overwhelming,” one plaintiff told Drugwatch. “This diagnosis has only added to the burden, and it’s not something I can escape or ignore. It’s made everything harder.”

If an MDL is approved, then the various lawsuits that have been filed will begin moving through the legal process together.

Eventually, the MDL could work toward holding bellwether trials. These trials involve selecting several lawsuits to essentially serve as test cases.

The verdicts that result from those trials help to inform both sides of what the outcome could be if all of the pending cases went to trial.

So, for example, if several Depo-Provera bellwethers were held and all of them were won by the plaintiffs, Pfizer could be motivated to negotiate a settlement for all pending lawsuits instead of continuing to take cases to trial that they could lose.