Articles Posted in Drugs

A November 2018 article in the BMJ reported a study concluding what many lawyers have known for a long time: patients who use sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are twice at risk of having lower limb amputations than other diabetes medications. The scientists also reported that SGLT2 inhibitors are also linked to diabetic ketoacidosis.

What Are SGLT2 Inhibitors?

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are medications that lower blood sugar in adults who have type 2 diabetes. They are used to complement diet and exercise. SGLT2 inhibitors may be available as a single-ingredient product or combined with other diabetic medications including metformin. They reduce the amount of glucose being absorbed by the body through the kidneys. This helps to reduce blood sugar by removing excess glucose through urine.

A lawsuit recently filed in the U.S. District Court District of New Jersey alleges that someone received stomach cancer because of taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) Prilosec, Nexium, and the variations of both drugs.

PPIs are used to treat many stomach conditions but can create even worse problems in the stomach as well. Before informing yourself about these lawsuits, you must first inform yourself on PPIs, specifically Nexium and Prilosec. You must also inform yourself about their potential side effects.

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The FDA has recently expressed concern about a certain group of medications called SGLT2 Inhibitors. This category of drugs includes popular prescription medications such as Invokana and Farxiga. Although these drugs have been, by all accounts, fairly successful when treating Type 2 diabetes. But they have produced their fair share of side-effects. Specifically, users of drugs such as Invokana are now reporting high levels of blood acid, the effects of which have landed some users in the ER.  While no deaths have been reported, there is no question that if these reports are accurate, these levels of blood acid could cause serious injury and death.  Accordingly, plaintiffs’ lawyers are investigating whether there is a connection between these drugs and these high acid levels and, if so, whether these drug makers knew about these risks and simply failed to inform patients and doctors.   If these dots are connected – and there is reason to think they might be – there are likely to be both serious injuries and lawsuits seeking compensation for those injuries.

The preceding paragraph was written some time ago.  In May 2017, there are 230 lawsuits pending in a federal MDL in New Jersey.

SGLT2 Inhibitors

Asia’s biggest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., is facing its first trial of lawsuits involving Actos. Alleged to have caused cancer in some patients, Actos was once the world’s biggest-selling diabetes drug. Like many diabetes drugs that were pushed on the market as the drug companies chased a gold rush of profits, lawsuits ensued. Now Takeda faces over 3,000 lawsuits, alleging Actos caused bladder cancer or other ailments among patients.

Over 1,200 suits have been consolidated before a federal judge in Louisiana for pretrial information exchanges. The first federal case is set for trial in November 2014. In the meantime, Takeda faces its first case today in state court in Los Angeles. The plaintiff is a 69-year-old man who took Actos for over two years. Diagnosed with bladder cancer in November 2011, he is “gravely ill” according to the Judge that granted an expedited trial of his claim.

This trial comes one month after Japanese-based Takeda won U.S. regulatory approval for Nesina, a new diabetes drug to replace Actos.

The 11th Circuit affirmed summary judgment in a lawsuit where the plaintiff claimed he went blind from the use of Genetech’s macular degeneration drug.

Plaintiff acted as his own lawyer in this case. His argument was “C’mon, look at the temporal relationship here” instead of bringing an expert who could testify – as Georgia law requires – that the drug at issue, Lucentis, caused his vision loss.

Putting together a drug injury case that can get past summary judgment is difficult. Most practicing attorneys in the country could not do it, much less a pro se plaintiff. This is true, even if the facts are on your side.

The FDA said yesterday that Mirapex, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease and restless leg syndrome, may cause heart failure.

I don’t think anything is conclusive, but the results of recent studies show a potential risk of heart failure. More studies are necessary to confirm these findings, but if you are taking Mirapex, you have to be concerned. This was not just a single study that could have gone awry. Instead, the study looked at the pooled analysis of multiple randomized clinical trials. Researchers found that heart failure occurred more frequently in patients taking Mirapex than in patients taking a placebo.

Should you stop taking Mirapex because of this risk to your heart? Well, one good rule of thumb is don’t make medical decisions based on what you read on a legal blog. Really, you should be talking to your doctor about the potential risks and your options. The FDA agrees, saying that patients taking Mirapex should continue to do so and consult their doctors.

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Like most lawyers writing about mass tort drug injury cases, our firm is looking to attract potential hip replacement recall cases.

One means of accomplishing this goal – as opposed to providing real information that is of use to victims which attracts attention from the search engines – is to buy pay-per-click advertising. I’m philosophically opposed to pay-per-click because I feel like 90% of the clicks are other lawyers snooping around to see who is buying the placement.

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Pfizer Inc. has recalled 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 (norgestrel and Ethinyl estradiol) Tablets and 14 lots of Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets (generic), as an investigation found that some blister packs may contain an inexact count of inert or active ingredient tablets and that the tablets may be out of sequence.

These products are oral contraceptives indicated for the prevention of pregnancy. These tablets were manufactured and packaged by Pfizer Inc. and labeled under the Akrimax Pharmaceuticals brand.

As a result of this packaging error, the daily regimen for these oral contraceptives may be incorrect and could leave women without adequate contraception, and at risk for unintended pregnancy. These packaging defects do not pose any immediate health risks. However, consumers exposed to affected packaging should begin using a non-hormonal form of contraception immediately. Patients who have the affected product should notify their physician and return the product to the pharmacy.

Cephalon has issued a recall for Treanda (bendamustine HCL). The recall affects the 25mg/8mL, and is marked as lot TB30111 with an expiration date of 12/2012. The recall was made after the presence of particulate matter found was found in a single vial which has since been identified as glass fragments.

Indicated for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the affected Treanda lot is packaged in 8 mL vials and was distributed to wholesalers and distributors nationwide between March 22, 2011 and October 5, 2011.

The recall has been made in consideration of the potential safety issue and risk associated with the administration of this product lot. Potential adverse effects after the administration of solutions containing particulates may present as an embolus and result in disruption of blood flow causing tissue/organ damage, especially in vulnerable patients such as those undergoing surgery, immunosuppressed individuals, and the elderly, as well as patients with micro- or macrovascular disease, such as cardiac and renal disease, who may be more at risk since their vasculature and end organs are already compromised. Treanda provides a reduced treatment time, as the infusion takes about an hour and can be done on an outpatient basis. Side effects of Treanda have been linked to potentially fatal skin reactions known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis. At least one death has been reported after a user experienced severe skin conditions from Treanda.