Last defendant in long-running Accutane suit settles

A nearly seven-year old suit over an acne medication is over.

The last defendant in a Madison County product liability-medical malpractice case involving Accutane settled as it was set to go to trial on Monday.

Plaintiff Jason Peipert had alleged that the acne medication caused him to develop inflammatory bowel disease when he was prescribed it in the late 1990s.

Peipert's suit had also included the drug's makers.

However, Dr. Daniel Goran was the sole defendant remaining as the case headed to trial. Defendants Hoffman-LaRoche Inc. and Roche Laboratories settled Peipert's claims against them in March 24 after mediation.

Terms of that settlement were confidential.

Details of the settlement with Goran are not yet available.

Had the trial gone to a jury as originally scheduled in 2007, it would have been the first suit involving Accutane to be tried in the nation.

Accutane was pulled from the U.S. market last year.

The trial was pushed off multiple times beginning in 2007.

Most recently, the case had been pushed from April 12 to April 19.

Attorneys for both Peipert and Goran went through the case's final trial prep at a pre-trial conference last week.

Peipert was represented by Walter Campbell, John Papa and others.

Goran was represented by Jeffrey Glass and others.

Madison County Circuit Judge David Hylla presided.

The case is Madison case number 03-L-2040.