Defective Drugs | InjuryBoard Houston

A federal judge in Indiana has vacated his previous ruling that wrongful death claims brought against the makers of Paxil were preempted by federal regulations. This reversal will now allow...

Continue article

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine deadlines for response to new drug applications may be causing the agency to make hasty decisions. The study suggests that drugs approved closer to the deadline end up having more safety issues once on the market than drugs that are approved earlier in the process. The study shows that of the 97 drugs that were approved within...

Continue article

Today the FDA announced that they would be launching a probe to investigate a possible link between Merck's asthma medication Singulair and suicidal ideation and action. The agency is reviewing the issue due to reports of mood and behavioral changes, including suicidal thoughts and action, associated with the drug. Singulair is most commonly used to treat asthma but is also often used to treat...

Continue article

A San Francisco couple has filed a lawsuit against Bayer and other drug manufacturers alleging that gadolinium based contrasted agents manufactured and distributed by the Defendants can cause patients to develop a severely painful and debilitating disease. William Paschal claims that he contracted Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) from an intravenous injection of a gadolinium based contrast...

Continue article

Today the state of Connecticut filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Co. The lawsuit accuses the company of illegally marketing and obscuring negative side effects of the best selling drug Zyprexa. The lawsuit seeks to recover money spent on treating patients that have developed conditions as a result of taking Zyprexa and millions more spent on the drug as a result of illegal marketing...

Continue article

In an ongoing trial between the State of Alaska and Eli Lilly a lawyer for the State, Scott Allen, said Wednesday that Eli Lilly systematically hid the risks associated with the popular anti-psychotic Zyprexa. The drug has been linked to an elevated risk of developing diabetes. The state is asking Lilly to pay for the medical expenses of Medicaid patients that developed diabetes and other...

Continue article

Millions of people the world over catch the flu each year. Many experience extremely debilitating symptoms from the influenza virus. Drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza have been developed to treat these symptoms and offer those infected some relief from the relentless illness. Recent news however has linked these treatments to neuropsychiatric events in some instances. Post-marketing reports, mostly...

Continue article

Thousands of Americans depend on the popular blood thinner Heparin to help them survive, but over the past few weeks the drug has been linked to 21 deaths and hundreds of adverse reactions likely due to contamination during the manufacturing process. Nearly half of all of the raw ingredients used to make Heparin are produced in China. The main active ingredient, which is derived from pig...

Continue article

This week federal health officials updated the prescribing information of Tysabri to warn of a possible link to severe and potentially fatal liver damage. Tysabri, used to treat multiple sclerosis, was recently approved to treat Crohn's disease, but now officials say that a patient can begin to experience liver damage within six days of the first dose of the drug. Tysabri was pulled from the...

Continue article

A couple of weeks ago the popular news program "60 Minutes" aired a story on Bayer's Trasylol. The broadcast told the tragic story of Joseph Randone and his experiences following heart surgery where Trasylol was used to reduce bleeding during the surgery. Physicians told the Randone family that the risk associated with the surgery was around five percent and that Joe would likely be able to...

Continue article

A recent study found that patients that received Bayer's Trasylol during heart surgery were significantly more likely to die within the next decade. Another study of 78,000 patients, originally withheld by Bayer, found a 78 percent increased risk of death within a week following the surgery. In November Bayer suspended sales of Trasylol after a Canadian trial linked the drug to higher death...

Continue article

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court delivered a catastrophic blow to plaintiffs seeking to recover damages associated with FDA approved medical devices. The 8-1 decision bars attorneys from filing lawsuits against medical device makers in cases where the device received FDA approval before being introduced into the market. Most of the more complex and more risky devices such as heart...

Continue article

Drug giant Roche has been ordered to pay a $7 million verdict to man who had to have his colon removed after taking the popular acne medication Accutane. Allegedly the medication caused inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease. This is the second loss for Roche in as many trials for Accutane. Roche still faces over 400 lawsuits alleging that Accutane caused Crohn's disease. An order handed...

Continue article

A probe into the cause behind 350 bad reactions to the blood-thinner Heparin discovered that most of the active ingredient used in Heparin is produced at a Chinese facility. This information casts new doubt on the safety of the growing percentage of Chinese-based pharmaceutical plants. About 40 percent of the bad reactions were classified as serious, including four possible deaths. The cause of...

Continue article

This week Chattem Inc., the makers of Icy Hot, announced a voluntary recall of its Icy Hot Heat Therapy patches after over 200 complaints of burns and skin irritations were reported in conjunction with the use of the patches. Some consumers experienced first, second, and third degree burns from the product. It is not yet clear whether injuries resulted from the improper or proper use of the...

Continue article