Hundreds of people who sued Pfizer alleging birth defects from its antidepressant Zoloft will be allowed to present another expert after the first one they offered to the court was tossed last summer.

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, who is handling the multidistrict litigation case, decided to allow the plaintiffs a second try in offering a key expert to testify as to Zoloft's causation of birth defects in babies born to mothers who took the drug while pregnant. Her decision came over the strong objections of Pfizer, which might have prevailed in barring the submission of a new expert in a less complex trial.

Referring to the lawyers on the plaintiffs' steering committee, the PSC, Rufe said, “The court fully appreciates Pfizer's argument that the PSC had every opportunity to select its expert witnesses and now seeks a 'Daubert do-over' after an unfavorable outcome. Had this issue arisen outside of the MDL context, this argument may have carried the day.”