Product Liability

August 8, 2010

Yaz Texas Update: Bayer’s Yaz Birth Control Lawsuits Now at 2,000

Bayer drug companies have produced more than 10 million pages of documents to women suing over oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz.

U.S. District Judge David Herndon, is handling about 2,000 Yasmin and Yaz suits from around the nation, and he has posted an order on July 9, reminding plaintiffs of their obligation to provide name, social security number, basic facts of their claims, and authority to release medical records.

Bayer had moved a day earlier to dismiss claims of 11 plaintiffs in six suits, for lack of fact sheets.

Read full story here.

August 8, 2010

ACCUTANE STEVENS-JOHNSON SYNDROME

by Dr. Shezad Malik

ACCUTANE STEVENS-JOHNSON SYNDROME: In February 2010, Health Canada reported that it had received reports of severe skin reactions, including sometimes fatal reaction known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome from Accutane.

At least 66 reports of Accutane skin reactions were identified by Health Canada, including adults and children, with two of the cases resulting in death.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a severe skin reaction that occurs as a side effect of several medications.

When the skin lesions affect more than 30% of the body, the condition is referred to as Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN).

August 8, 2010

Yaz Lawsuits Moving Forward in New Jersey State Court

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The number of Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella lawsuits that are part of a mass tort docket in New Jersey has increased significantly since the product liability cases were consolidated in February.

The number of Yaz lawsuits, Yasmin lawsuits and Ocella lawsuits centralized in Bergen County Superior Court has gone from 39 to about 400, according to court documents.

The New Jersey Yaz litigation was consolidated because of concerns about court filings, since New Jersey is the corporate headquarters in the United States for Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which manufacturers the birth control pills.

August 6, 2010

Roche Holding AG Wins Reversal of Accutane Verdict.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

“Roche Holding AG won reversal of a $10.5 million verdict over its Accutane [isotretinoin] acne drug because a judge improperly barred the company from using evidence about the medication’s use,” according to an appeals court ruling made in Kendall v. Hoffmann LaRoche Inc., ATL- L-8213-05, New Jersey Superior Court, Atlantic County (Atlantic City).

“Roche’s lawyers should have been able to use data about how many acne sufferers had used Accutane over the years throughout Kamie Kendall’s 2008 trial of her lawsuit over the drug, the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division ruled,” prompting “a judge in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to delay the trial of an actor’s suit alleging the medication causes inflammatory bowel disease.”

Bloomberg News (8/6, Feeley) reports

August 5, 2010

AstraZeneca Will Keep Seroquel Settlement Terms Confidential

by Dr. Shezad Malik

AstraZeneca Plc, which settled almost 4,000 product-liability cases this month involving its antipsychotic drug Seroquel through mediation, said it will keep terms of the agreements confidential.

The company, said it was defending more than 10,000 cases involving 22,500 plaintiff groups. Some of the cases were previously dismissed because plaintiffs lacked sufficient evidence to support allegations that Seroquel causes diabetes.

The company, said in the July 29 filing that by March, it had spent about $688 million defending Seroquel-related cases.

July 31, 2010

Merck Pays Claims to Families of 3,468 Vioxx Users

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Bloomberg News (7/28, Voreacos, Johnson) reports “Merck & Co. paid claims to the families of 3,468 users of its Vioxx painkiller who died of heart attacks or strokes,” a court-appointed administrator told a judge Tuesday.

“A $4.85 billion settlement fund made payments to the families of 2,878 Vioxx users who died of heart attacks and 590 who died of strokes,” according to Lynn Greer of BrownGreer LLP, a law firm in Richmond, Virginia, that analyzed 59,365 claims. Merck “pulled Vioxx from the market in 2004 after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.”

July 27, 2010

Avastin Does Not Benefit Breast Cancer Patients

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A committee within the F.D.A. has advised the agency to denounce its marketing approval of the popular cancer drug Avastin for treating breast cancer because “new trials showed no apparent benefit from the drug.”

The committee found that new trials of the drug, which is combined with the breast cancer drug paclitaxel to treat metastatic breast cancer, actually showed that survival rates decreased slightly for women due to complications from the drugs.

If the F.D.A. decides to follow the committee recommendation, it would not affect marketing of the drug for brain, lung, colon and kidney cancer. Thomas H. Maugh II, LA Times 07/21/2010
Read Article: LA Times

July 22, 2010

Rhabdomyolysis After Taking Zocor 80mg

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm is currently investigating claims on behalf of patients suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a serious Zocor side effect that has been linked to the 80mg dose of this cholesterol-lowering drug.

In March 2010, the Food & Drug Administration released a warning that highlighted the risk of rhabdomyolysis in patients taking Zocor 80mg.

Rhabdomyolysis is a medical condition that affects the muscles, in serious cases, this can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure requiring dialysis, and even death.

Read Mayo Clinic article on statin induced Rhabdomyolysis.

July 21, 2010

Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion Over Paxil Suits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve more than 800 cases alleging its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in some users’ children, according to people familiar with the settlements.

The settlements, which provide an average payout of more than $1.2 million to families of affected children, leave more than 100 birth-defect cases pending, the people said. Officials of Glaxo, the U.K.’s biggest drugmaker, said July 15 they set aside $2.4 billion to resolve litigation over Paxil and its Avandia diabetes drug.

Read full Bloomberg story here.

July 20, 2010

Court Files Indicate Settlement in Paxil Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed against a pharmaceutical company by a Watertown woman who linked her prescribed use of Paxil to the death of her infant son, according to court files.

Jennifer Berg of Watertown sued SmithKline Beecham, doing business as GlaxoSmithKline, in October 2007. The complaint said Nathan Berg died in 2004 because of a heart disorder caused by her use of the antidepressant Paxil while she was pregnant. WAYNE ORTMAN, AP , The Washington Post 07/20/2010
Read Article: The Washington Post