Product Defect Liability Lawyer Blog

The pharmaceutical liability lawyers at BISNAR | CHASE have been extremely concerned about the adverse side effects caused by dietary supplement Hydroxycut. Government health officials in May sent out strong warnings to dieters and body builders to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold dietary supplement linked to at least one death and several cases of liver damage. Now, the American Journal of Gastroenterology is confirming fears about the serious side effects of Hydroxycut. A recent study published in the journal confirms links between this herbal weight loss supplement and liver problems.

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The pharmaceutical litigation attorneysat BISNAR | CHASE, for the last 30 years, have fought for the rights of injured victims who suffered the devastating consequences of dangerous or defective drugs. Dangerous drug effects are also often the result of misleading marketing by drug companies. We saw an example of such corporate greed when the U.S. Justice Department announced that Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has agreed to pay a $2.3 billion civil penalty for trying to sell drugs for uses not approved by federal regulators. Pfizer paid the fines to settle criminal and civil allegations that it illegally sold four drugs for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). When a drug is marketed or promoted for non-authorized or "off-label" uses that are not approved by the FDA, there is no question that public health and safety is at risk.

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Users of Zicam cold remedies who have lost their sense of smell as a result of using the defective drug have found themselves a Zicam lawyer in order to file for a class action lawsuit against drug manufacturer Matrixx Enterprises. According to a news article in Consumeraffairs.com, the class action lawsuits were filed in federal court in California and state court in Missouri. The California lawsuit was brought on behalf of anyone who bought Zicam while in California or from a manufacturer or other source in California within the four years preceding June 23, 2009. The Missouri lawsuit defines a class of all St. Louis County residents who bought Zicam products in the year preceding a safety warning issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June.

On June 15, 2009, the FDA warned consumers to stop using Zicam intranasal cold gels and nasal sprays after receiving more than 130 complaints from consumers whose sense of smell was completely gone or diminished from having taken these defective drugs. Apparently, zinc gluconate, one of the active ingredients in Zicam cold medications can cause irreparable and irreversible personal injury from damage to intranasal tissue.

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Matrixx Initiatives has officially announced that it will recall its Zicam intranasal cold remedies after hundreds of patients reported losing their sense of smell using the medications, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this month issued a consumer alert about Zicam. Matrixx officials are saying that the product recall is voluntary while stating that they disagree with the FDA's safety warning, which maintains that the zinc-containing Zicam intranasal cold remedies are unsafe to use. The FDA is also alleging that the products were unlawfully marketed, an allegation which is also being challenged by Matrixx.

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Raptiva recall lawyers continue to see the defective drugs effect. Gloria, a nurse from Memphis, Tennessee, talks about her Raptiva side effects in an article in Lawyers and Settlements. Gloria has been a registered nurse for 30 years. When she was prescribed the drug Raptiva for severe psoriasis, Gloria says it "worked like a charm." She stayed on Raptiva for four years and then the troubling side effects began. The muscle aches, back pains and nervous disorders were unlike any before and Gloria immediately associated them with Raptiva. She even had to use a walker for a while because of the neurological problems.

And then, last month, she got a call from her doctor saying that she needed to get off Raptiva -- that there was this severe neurological defect -- a brain damage disease called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) -- associated with Raptiva. Once you get PML, you go nowhere but down, Gloria's doctor told her.

This made Gloria mad, understandably so. It further aggravated her when she heard from a pharmacist that the drug company, Genentech, knew about these defective drug side effects from clinical trial overseas. They knew about the negative findings, but never shared that information here in the United States. Patients also say that there are no prominent warnings of any side effects in the literature provided with the prescription drug.

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We have been reporting about the Hydroxycut recall of more than a dozen Hydroxycut weight loss supplements, which are apparently causing serious liver damage among users. Among the Hydroxycut products recalled are weight loss supplements, fat burners, energy enhancers, low-carb diet aids and water loss aids. Many experts and consumer safety advocates say that the problem with Hydroxycut and other diet aids is that unlike pharmaceuticals, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate supplements. There are no guidelines, procedures, policies or test results that a company has to go through to put these weight loss products on the market.

It's going to take a class-action lawsuit to stop the sale of these dangerous, unregulated supplements. There are already many of these class-action lawsuits brewing across the country. Bisnar | Chase has also received calls and inquiries from victims and their families on how to go about pursuing their legal options. It is important that consumers protect their rights. If you have suffered liver damage or other serious side effects as a result of taking Hydroxycut, please contact reputed product liability law firms that can help hold these defective product manufacturers accountable.

I've always found it appalling that dietary supplements are not tested for dangerous ingredients that might endanger lives. Prescription drugs must go through rigorous testing to get FDA approval before they can be sold, as they should. However, these supplements are not tested or approved by the FDA. So in the case of Hydroxycut, we actually had to wait until 23 personal injuries and one death were reported. Now lawyers who take on these cases will go out and do the research to prove that the problem was the product to start with.

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Hydroxycut recall lawyers have noted government health officials who are sending out strong warnings to dieters and body builders to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold dietary supplement that has been linked to serious liver damage and at least one death, according to an Associated Press news report. The company that manufactures Hydroxycut has recalled 14 of its products after 23 reports of liver damage and one death of a 19-year-old boy, who died in 2007 after taking Hydroxycut. Apparently, the patients who suffered liver damage were otherwise perfectly healthy until they started using Hydroxycut.

However, Iovate Health Sciences, the manufacturer of Hydroxycut has stated that the death of the teenager in 2007 was not caused by Hydroxycut. In fact, the company claims that the "adverse events" reported are minuscule compared to the large number of people who have used and benefited from the drug Hydroxycut. Last year alone, 9 million packages of the dietary supplements were sold. Hydroxycut is advertised and marketed as a dietary supplement made with natural ingredients. Iovate officials say that their assessment of the drug's side effects is very different from that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Unfortunately, no one really knows how many have been affected by this defective drug.

There is no question that dietary supplements fall through the crack when it comes to regulation. Dietary supplement manufacturers do not have to undergo a rigorous FDA screening process as other medications. However, in recent years, companies have been put under stricter requirements to alert the FDA when they learn of problems. In 2004, the government banned ephedra, an ingredient in many dietary supplements, which was linked to heart attacks, seizures and strokes. The problem is that the FDA relies on voluntary reports to get a grip on these problems and many cases are never reported.

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Hydroxycut recall attorneys are seeing more dietary supplement recalls.The manufacturer of the dietary supplement Hydroxycut has agreed to recall 14 of its defective products amid complaints that the widely sold supplement has caused serious liver damage, other health complications and at least one death. According to an Associated Press news report, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials said at least 9 million packages of this popular diet supplement were sold just in the last one year.

The FDA so far has received 23 reports of liver problems, including the death of a 19-year-old boy as a result of taking Hydroxycut. The teenager died in 2007, but the fatality wasn't reported to the FDA until March. Other patients experienced symptoms ranging from jaundice or yellowing of the skin to liver failure. One patient received a liver transplant and another awaits a liver for transplant.

Hydroxycut's U.S. distributor is Iovate Health Sciences headquartered near Buffalo, N.Y. It is manufactured by a Canadian company and is commonly available in drug stores and grocery stores nationwide in the United States. Hydroxycut is used by people who are trying to lose weight and by body builders who want to sharpen their muscles. Unfortunately, dietary supplements don't come under the same scrutiny as other prescription drugs. They are not as tightly regulated by the FDA. These dietary supplement manufacturers do not need to prove to the FDA that their products are safe and effective before selling them to consumers.

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Critics and legal experts are saying that the psoriasis Raptiva drug recall, which was recalled last week because of its link to a fatal brain infection, was put on the market too early and consumers have suffered the consequences for that act. According to an article in Lawyers and Settlements, questions are being raised about the adequacy of clinical trials. Did Genentech, manufacturer of Raptiva, study the long-term effects of their drug and conduct sufficient follow-up studies? Why did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drag its feet to approve a warning label for Raptiva?

Many questions remain as reports of psoriasis patients taking Raptiva getting progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare brain infection, are piling up, as are the lawsuits. FDA approved the drug in 2003. The drug accounted for $108 million in sales in 2008 for Genentech. The company is now saying that physicians should stop writing new prescriptions for the drug and that Raptiva will no longer be available after June 8. Patients are asked to consult their doctors before stopping the drug altogether because suddenly stopping it can lead to a worsening of their psoriasis.

European regulators urged the removal of Raptiva in March saying the drug's therapeutic benefits are only "modest" but its side effects are "serious." Apparently, Raptiva's side effects not only included PML, but also other serious, potentially fatal, infections such as bacterial sepsis, viral meningitis and invasive fungal disease. This was obviously a drug whose serious risks and side effects outweighed its few benefits.

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Defective Drug Raptiva Recalled for Links to Fatal Brain Infection

Pharmaceutical company Genentech Inc. is recalling the defective drug Raptiva, which is used to treat psoriasis because of the drug's links to a fatal brain infection, according to a news report in the San Francisco Chronicle. This voluntary drug recall from San Francisco-based Genentech comes six months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated labeling for the drug to warn consumers about Raptiva's links to a rare nervous system disorder called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or PML. So far, there are three known confirmed fatal cases of PML in patients taking Raptiva. One other patient who was taking the drug developed similar neurological symptoms and died of an unknown cause, FDA officials said.

Genentech officials are saying that about 2,000 patients suffering from psoriasis, a skin and joint disorder, are taking the drug defective drug Raptiva here in the U.S. and about 46,000 patients worldwide have taken it since Raptiva's introduction in 2003. The drug accounted for $108 million in sales in 2008 for Genentech. The company is now saying that physicians should stop writing new prescriptions for the drug and that Raptiva will no longer be available after June 8. Patients are asked to consult their doctors before stopping the drug altogether because suddenly stopping it can lead to a worsening of their psoriasis.

Genentech first identified Raptiva's connection to the fatal brain infection in October after a 70-year-old patient died. That was when the labeling was updated to include the warning about PML. In February, the number of deaths rose to four. That has led to the company's decision to recall the drug altogether.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers about 25 different diet supplements marketed for weight loss because they can pose extremely serious health risks to those who use them. According to this news report, these diet pills contain ingredients that are not approved for use in the United States. Some of the effects that have been reported are high blood pressure, seizures and strokes. These products are apparently marketed as “dietary supplements” and sold on various Web sites and in retail stores.

The weight loss products that are apparently contaminated with, what the federal agency calls, “undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients” include: Fatloss Slimming, Japan Lingzhi 24 Hours Diet, 2 Day Diet, 3x Slimming Power, 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming, 3 Day Diet, 7 Day Herbal Slim, 8 Factor Diet, 7 Diet Day/Night Formula, 999 Fitness Essence, Extrim Plus, GMP, Imelda Perfect Slim, Lida DaiDaihua, Miaozi Slim Capsules, Perfect Slim, Perfect Slim 5x, Phyto Shape, ProSlim Plus, Royal Slimming Formula, Slim 3 in 1, Slim Express 360, Slimtech, Somotrim, Superslim, TripleSlim, Zhen de Shou, and Venom Hyperdrive 3.0.

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Pharmaceutical giant, Merck, has agreed to pay out $58 million as part of a multi-state settlement in connection with allegations that its aggressive advertising campaign for its defective drug Vioxx, deceptively understated the health risks associated with the use of the drug. According to a business news report Merck will also be required to submit all new commercials for its drugs to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The civil settlement marks the conclusion of investigations by 29 states and the District of Columbia into the pharmaceutical company’s advertising strategies and practices. Vioxx, a popular painkiller, was pulled off the market in 2004 after patients complained of serious side effects including stroke and death. These adverse effects highlighted the drug’s defects and prompted a wave of personal injury lawsuits against Merck. A pending $4.85 billion settlement, if approved, will put an end to a majority of those lawsuits.

Merck’s deceptive, aggressive direct-to-television advertising campaign was so effective that hundreds of thousands of patients requested the drug before their doctors could know or understand the true side effects associated with its prolonged use. Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004 after research showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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