A popular contraceptive injection—used by millions of women every year—has come under intense scrutiny as patients begin to share their harrowing experiences with brain tumors allegedly linked to the Depo-Provera shot.

Depo-Provera, a synthetic hormone shot administered every three months, has been a convenient option for many seeking reliable birth control. Yet recent reports suggest the drug may carry a significantly higher risk of developing meningiomas, slow-growing tumors that form in the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Depo-Provera Users Talk About Their Meningioma Experiences

In a recent Daily Mail Exclusive (May 29, 2025), health reporter Emily Joshu Sterne highlighted the stories of women like Andrea Faulks of Alabama, who started taking Depo-Provera in 1993.

After enduring years of unexplained headaches, dizziness, and tremors, Faulks was eventually diagnosed with a meningioma. “I knew within myself something was wrong,” Faulks told the Daily Mail. She is now undergoing radiation treatment and may soon face risky surgery.

Another woman, Sherry Brown of Louisiana, took Depo-Provera from 2001 to 2003 before switching birth control methods. Years later, she fainted and hit her head, leading doctors to discover not one but two meningiomas. One of her tumors has grown to roughly the size of a silver dollar.

Brown underwent a gamma knife procedure earlier this year but fears she will need invasive surgery if the tumors continue to grow.

“It’s a constant fear,” she told the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail also spoke with Chris Paulos, an attorney at the prominent Levin Papantonio law firm, which is representing women in lawsuits against Pfizer, the maker of Depo-Provera. Paulos emphasized that these cases could be just the beginning, with “thousands of similar lawsuits” expected in the coming years.

“It’s certainly a risk that was easily knowable, if not knowable by the manufacturers decades and decades ago,” Paulos told the Daily Mail, referencing a large study published in the British Medical Journal comparing over 18,000 women who underwent meningioma surgery to healthy control subjects. That study found that long-term Depo-Provera use (more than 12 months) was associated with a 5.6-fold increased risk of developing meningiomas.

MDL Spotlight: The Financial Times Coverage

The momentum around Depo-Provera lawsuits has also reached the national stage with the formation of Multidistrict Litigation (MDL No. 3140), now pending in the Northern District of Florida. As of today, the MDL comprises more than 400 lawsuits against Pfizer.

A Financial Times article published last week (May 28, 2025) reported that the MDL stems from the landmark study published in the British Medical Journal.

The Financial Times noted that the litigation is overseen in part by Levin Papantonio—a law firm with a long history of battling corporate giants on behalf of injured consumers. The case management conference (CMC) for the MDL took place on May 30, 2025, in Pensacola, Florida.

According to the Financial Times, Levin Papantonio attorneys Virginia Buchanan and Chris Paulos, who have been appointed as the MDL’s Co-Chair of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel, respectively, emphasized the urgency of the litigation and the importance of holding Pfizer accountable. In a joint statement, they said:

“This case is moving at speed and this hearing will bring us closer to achieving justice for the women in the United States who have never been warned about the increased risk of developing a brain tumor from using Depo-Provera and who have gone on to develop meningiomas. Levin Papantonio has taken on Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and Big Pharma for their corporate wrongdoing and now we’re demanding that Pfizer be held accountable.”

The Financial Times also highlighted Pfizer’s inconsistent global labeling practices. The company added a warning in Canada back in 2015, and updated its labels in the UK and Europe in 2024—yet no equivalent warning has been provided to women in the United States.

A Growing Call for Accountability

As the MDL progresses, more women are coming forward to share their Depo shot stories, demanding accountability from Pfizer and warning others of the potential risks.

“If there are women out there that have been exposed to this drug and then been diagnosed with a meningioma, they should certainly be talking to an attorney,” Paulos said in the Daily Mail feature.

For patients like Faulks and Brown, the struggle is ongoing—but so is their determination to fight back and ensure no other woman faces the same fate without being fully informed.