It was August, 2008, when 24-year-old Tanya Hayes began to experience breathlessness and what her family described as a “nasty, hard cough.” Tanya ignored the symptoms until one afternoon when she collapsed in a car park in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Five hours later, she was pronounced dead of…
GlaxoSmithKline Plc must pay $2.5 M over claims that its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects, a Pennsylvania jury concluded in the first of 600 such cases to come to trial. Jurors in state court in Philadelphia deliberated about seven hours over two days before finding Glaxo failed to properly warn…
GlaxoSmithKline Plc officials intentionally ignored the possibility that the Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects, a lawyer said in closing arguments of a trial over the drug. Glaxo researchers never followed up on studies showing Paxil posed a birth-defect risk for fear of harming sales, The London-based drugmaker “made a concerted…
Two pension funds for firefighters and city employees in Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit against Bayer, saying that the drug maker hid health risks and misrepresented the effectiveness of its popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin. The complaint joins hundreds of other lawsuits pending against the pharmaceutical company over…
When Bill Morgan, moved into his newly built dream home in Williamsburg, Va., three years ago, his hopes were quickly dashed. As reported in the New Times. Read the complete story here His wife and daughter suffered constant nosebleeds and headaches. A persistent foul odor filled the house. Every piece…
GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, complied with all U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations in testing and monitoring Paxil, according to a former employee for the agency. Glaxo reported to the FDA on a regular basis and supplied animal toxicology studies that didn’t indicate the drug could cause birth…
A nonprofit health advocacy group wants Bayer correct its marketing techniques — this one involving its Men’s One A Day multivitamin. The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is suing the German drug giant for allegedly claiming falsely that selenium in the men’s multivitamin might reduce…
For a 15-year-old, or anybody else, Michael Blankenship had already been through a lot when he arrived at Seattle Children’s hospital for some routine dental work. What left him dead, was the painkiller-laced patch — meant to ameliorate chronic pain in cancer patients and others — that was prescribed to…
Bayer AG, Germany’s largest drugmaker, was sued by two Pennsylvania pension funds and accused of misrepresenting the safety and effectiveness of the Yaz contraceptive to boost sales. Bayer unlawfully promoted the drug from March 2006 to March 2009 by concealing side effects including blood clots, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms,…
The New York Times reported September 25 on the controversy surrounding Yaz and Yasmin, two popular birth control pills (BCPs). The controversy is a result of the marketing and manufacturing processes identified by the Food and Drug Administration. The major concern is whether these medications increase the risk of blood…