Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a state-court action against Pfizer and its CEO, Albert Bourla, alleging the company misled consumers about the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The suit adds a high-profile state enforcement action to the already complex body of litigation stemming from pandemic-era vaccine marketing, and it could become a closely watched test of how far state consumer-protection laws can reach in disputes over pharmaceutical communications.

At its core, the case appears to frame vaccine-related statements not simply as scientific or regulatory matters, but as actionable representations to consumers.

Bayer is making an aggressive new push to shrink one of the country’s most closely watched mass torts, asking the federal court overseeing Roundup litigation to dismantle nearly 4,000 pending cases after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling it says undermines plaintiffs’ core warning-based claims.

The motion targets the federal multidistrict litigation before Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California, where Roundup plaintiffs have long alleged that Monsanto failed to adequately warn users that the herbicide could cause cancer.