In a potential setback to hundreds of Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuits, one New York district judge has upheld a motion to dismiss a Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuit.

This ruling came in spite of the fact that the labeling for Cymbalta says that serious withdrawal symptoms occur “at a rate of greater than or equal to 1%.” However, Cymbalta lawsuits argue that Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms occur in closer to 50 percent of Cymbalta patients. However, the judge ruled that Eli Lilly’s labeling of Cymbalta was in line with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling requirements.

Side Effects of Cymbalta Withdrawal

Cymbalta is an antidepressant. It has been alleged in Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuits that Eli Lilly, the company manufacturing Cymbalta, has downplayed serious symptoms seen in patients that discontinue taking Cymbalta by suggesting common, debilitating side effects are quite rare. FDA reports indicate that Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms may include nausea, headaches, dizziness, and other serious side effects. One disturbing alleged Cymbalta side effect is known as “brain zaps.” Brain zaps are described as the sudden sensation that a person’s brain is being electrocuted. It has been alleged that Eli Lilly described serious Cymbalta side effects like “brain zaps” as “rare.”

Cymbalta Withdrawal Lawsuits

In addition to this recent setback, another district court judge denied a motion in late 2014 to centralize Cymbalta lawsuits through a process called multidistrict litigation or an MDL. In MDLs, the legal system organizes similar cases together. Drug lawsuits like Cymbalta lawsuits often make similar allegations and hinge on similar evidence, making them ideal for inclusion in a single MDL. This would have started a Cymbalta MDL with 27 individual Cymbalta lawsuits. A Cymbalta MDL can greatly streamline the legal process. However, other major drug lawsuits have initially had MDL certification denied only to have it approved later.

Since Cymbalta lawsuits have not been grouped together into a Cymbalta MDL, it is hard to predict where the matter will go from here. Since Cymbalta lawsuits have not been centralized and consolidated, it is possible that some individual Cymbalta lawsuits working their way through the legal system have different evidence and arguments that could fare better in the legal system. Though there have been setbacks for the plaintiffs in Cymbalta lawsuits, it is possible that the situation could change.

The Cymbalta Withdrawal Lawsuit is Case No. 3786, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.