Depo-Provera Meningioma Lawsuit: MDL 3140 Settlement Status and Who Qualifies

Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection is a shot of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) given every three months to prevent pregnancy. Pfizer sells the brand; other companies make generic versions.

The lawsuits say the shot can cause meningiomas, tumors that grow from the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. Most are not cancerous, but they can press on the brain and cause seizures, vision loss, headaches, and cognitive changes, and many need surgery. According to the court, the cases raise common questions of whether Depo-Provera causes meningioma, whether the defendants knew of the risk, whether they failed to warn, and whether they failed to promote a safer, lower-dose alternative, Depo-SubQ Provera 104. Plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages. The defendants maintain the drug is safe and effective.

The research behind the cases is a French national study published in The BMJ on March 27, 2024. It compared 18,061 women who had surgery for intracranial meningioma with 90,305 matched controls. Use of injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate was associated with an odds ratio of 5.55 for meningioma surgery, and the excess risk was driven by use of one year or longer. The study found no excess risk for levonorgestrel hormonal IUDs.

These are individual injury cases gathered into a mass tort, not a class action. A settlement is not an admission, and no court has ruled that Depo-Provera causes meningiomas.

On February 7, 2025, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized the federal cases as In re: Depo-Provera (Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3140, master docket 3:25-md-3140, before Judge M. Casey Rodgers in the Northern District of Florida. Judge Rodgers previously ran the 3M Combat Arms earplug multidistrict litigation.

In its quarterly report for the period ending June 28, 2026, Pfizer disclosed that in June 2026 it reached an agreement in principle with plaintiff leadership that it expects will resolve a substantial majority of the pending MDL cases, on terms it called not material to its finances. It did not disclose an amount. Coordinated state court proceedings also exist in California, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York.

An agreement in principle is not a finished settlement. Details such as eligibility criteria, how awards are scored, and enrollment deadlines are typically worked out afterward, and the court lists a case management conference for December 18, 2026.

What typically happens next, in general terms: the parties finalize a written agreement, a claims administrator is appointed, and represented plaintiffs decide whether to enroll. Many such deals require a high participation rate before the company is bound. Claimants then submit records, awards are calculated, and liens from health insurers or Medicare are resolved before money is paid. Pfizer's filing says the agreement is expected to resolve a substantial majority of pending MDL cases, which means some cases may remain outside it. Anyone who is not represented should not assume they are covered.

Attorneys reviewing these cases generally look for:

• Documented use of the shot. Depo-Provera CI or a generic MPA injection for contraception. Because the BMJ findings tied the risk to use of a year or more, longer use strengthens a claim.
• A meningioma diagnosis on imaging or pathology, made after you started the shot.
• Harm from the tumor, such as surgery, radiation, seizures, vision or hearing problems, or ongoing monitoring.

You may not qualify if you used Depo-SubQ Provera 104 only (plaintiffs call it the safer alternative), if your tumor was diagnosed before you began injections, or if the tumor is a different type such as a glioma. Claims in any settlement program are usually limited to people who filed or registered by a cutoff, so unrepresented people should not assume they will be included automatically.

Generic shots count too. According to Pfizer, plaintiffs assert claims relating to both Depo-Provera and generic injectable MPA products, and some cases also name the generic manufacturers. If your records show only "medroxyprogesterone" rather than the brand name, keep them; an attorney can sort out which company made the product you received.

No amount has been announced, so there is no verified average payout. Mass tort settlements like this typically use a points or tier system based on:

• whether the tumor required surgery or radiation, and complications from treatment;
• lasting effects such as seizures, vision loss, or cognitive changes;
• how long you used the shot and how well it is documented;
• age and other risk factors.

Individual damages can include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Pfizer described the resolution as not material to its liquidity or financial condition, which says little about any single woman's award. Attorney fees in mass torts are usually contingency percentages, and Medicare or health insurers may have liens on part of a recovery. See how settlement money is divided.

If you are represented, ask your attorney directly whether your case is expected to be part of the Pfizer program, what the enrollment steps are, and what fees and liens will come out of any award.

The core claim is failure to warn under state product liability law. For years the U.S. label for Depo-Provera CI did not mention meningioma. The FDA-approved label now lists "Meningioma" under Warnings and Precautions, marked as a December 2025 change, and tells prescribers to stop the drug if a meningioma is diagnosed and to monitor for symptoms. The label already carried a boxed warning about loss of bone mineral density.

The main defense is preemption: brand-name drug makers argue federal law barred them from adding the warning earlier without FDA permission. Plaintiffs argue Pfizer could have strengthened the label on its own. The late 2025 label change and the settlement talks came as those issues were being litigated in the MDL.

Each woman's case is subject to her state's statute of limitations for personal injury, commonly two or three years, often measured from when she knew or should have known her tumor might be linked to the shot. Defendants may argue the clock started with the March 2024 BMJ publicity or the December 2025 label change.

Settlement programs also set their own registration and enrollment dates, which have not been published. If you have a diagnosis and have not talked to an attorney, do it soon.

Filing is not limited to federal court. Pfizer reports that coordinated proceedings were set up in 2025 in several state courts, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York. Where a case is filed can affect which deadline applies, so this is a question for an attorney licensed in your state.

Nearly every Depo-Provera complaint cites the French study published in The BMJ. Knowing its details helps you understand both sides of the causation fight.

The researchers used France's national health data system and matched each woman who had surgery for an intracranial meningioma with five controls by birth year and area. The mean age was 57.6. For injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate, 9 of 18,061 cases and 11 of 90,305 controls had been exposed, producing an odds ratio of 5.55 with a wide confidence interval of 2.27 to 13.56. The excess risk was driven by use of one year or longer.

The study also found no excess meningioma risk for progesterone, dydrogesterone, or levonorgestrel hormonal IUDs. As a check, it confirmed very high risk for cyproterone acetate, a progestogen already known to be linked to meningiomas, with an odds ratio of 19.21.

Why both sides cite it

Plaintiffs point to the more than fivefold increase and the dose-duration pattern. The defense can point to the small number of exposed women, the fact that the study counted only surgically treated tumors, and that it is observational, so it shows association rather than proof of cause. The December 2025 label change, which tells prescribers to stop the drug if a meningioma is diagnosed, came after this research.

Why the MDL grew so fast

The JPML's September 1, 2026 report lists 6,510 total actions filed in MDL 3140 and 6,403 still pending, one of the larger product liability dockets in the federal courts. For comparison, the same report shows Judge Rodgers's 3M Combat Arms earplug MDL with 391,225 total actions over its life, the largest MDL she has overseen.

1. Keep following your neurologist or neurosurgeon. Talk to your doctor before changing birth control.
2. Collect injection records from clinics, pharmacies, or insurers. Many women got shots at health departments or student clinics; those records can take time to request.
3. Get your imaging and pathology reports and surgical records.
4. Do not sign anything offering a quick payment until you understand the terms; a settlement release ends your claim.
5. Watch for scams. No official claim form had been published as of September 2026.

In a case review, expect questions about when you started and stopped the shot, roughly how many injections you received, where you got them, when the tumor was found, and what treatment followed. You do not need every record in hand to start; an attorney can request clinic and pharmacy records with your permission.

Independent attorneys who handle Depo-Provera cases can check whether your records and dates fit. A free case review takes about two minutes. Related: the Paragard IUD lawsuit, hair relaxer cancer lawsuits, and our guide to what an MDL is.