Drug Recall Lawyer Blog

In the Yaz lawsuits pending around the country, plaintiffs' lawyers argue that blood clots are unacceptable risk of Bayer's decision to add drospirenone to birth control pills. It is not just plaintiffs' attorneys beating that drum. Numerous studies have been published in recent years which showed an increase in risk of blot clot formation in birth control users, and showed decrease in risk with decreases in estrogen dose. But does Yaz/Yasmin cause particular risks?

Earlier this week the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a study on Danish women, aged 15-49 during 1995-2009, focusing on results after the release of oral contraceptives containing drospirenone. Information was compiled for more than 1.7 million women. Stating the obvious, this is a huge study group. The study was designed so that any confounding factors such as body mass index, smoking, surgery, and social class were addressed, to ensure a robust analysis of the data. As a result, a total of 1.3 million women were included in the analysis. Women were categorized based on birth control pill use, type, dose, and length of use.
A total of 4,307 cases of venous thrombosis (blood clot in the vein) were identified, though not all occurred in women using combined contraceptives. Of these cases, 26% resulted in pulmonary embolism (blood clot travelling to the lung), 63.6% were deep venous thrombosis, and 6.6% were unspecified. The remaining were among cerebral venous thrombosis (blood clot in the veins of the brain), vena cava thrombosis, and kidney venous thrombosis. Approximately 2% suffered a stroke.

Continue reading " Yaz Lawsuits: Another Weapon for Plaintiffs' Lawyers " »

Let's face it: the bellwether Foxamax trials are going very poorly for Fosamax plaintiffs and their lawyers. Very poorly.

Merck won another jury trial, this time in New York, which blamed osteoporosis drug Fosamax for jaw and dental injuries. This is Merck's fourth Fosamax victory in five tries. The other: an $8 million verdict (reduced to $1.5 million).

There is no question that these cases have value. Even assuming this abysmal 20% rate is indicia of what we can expect in the future, do the math. These cases have meaningful value. That said, if there is a global settlement of the remaining 2,000 cases, every loss chips away at the value of plaintiffs' claims.

The question ultimately is whether Fosamax causes osteonecrosis of the jaw. A study published in the Journal of Dental Research in February found oral bisphosphonate drugs like Fosamax can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw. Merck says they never saw this in clinical trials.

Plaintiffs' lawyers will try now to dig down and change this losing trend. It is worth noting that plaintiffs disproportionately lose the early rounds, figuring out what works and what types of cases have the best chance of success. So you could see a turning of the tide. But I also said the same thing in the Seroquel cases where things for plaintiffs went from worse, to worser, to worst. (Anyone in the stock market right now knows the feeling.)