Houston Texas Defective Drug Law Blog

The pharmaceutical Merck announced last Thursday that it had reached a deal to settle hundreds of Canadian lawsuits connected to the painkiller Vioxx. According to sources, the settlement will be at least $21.6 million, and may rise to as much as $36.5 million. The agreement is apparently still awaiting approval by Canadian courts.

Merck took Vioxx off the market back in September of 2004 after the company's research found the drug doubled patient's risk of heart of attack, stroke and death. The move caused the company's stock to drop and brought on a multitude of lawsuits in both the United States and other countries. According to the suits, Merck did not adequately disclose the drug's known health risks before it was taken off the market.

In our previous post, we began looking at the issue of diagnostic errors and the importance of getting a second opinion when serious conditions are involved. As we noted, evidence is growing that doing so can often result in significant changes in diagnosis or treatment. Knowing what you are dealing with is critical when fighting for your health.

Misdiagnoses can come about for a number of different reasons. Sometimes it is simply a matter of pathologists and radiologists misreading slides and scans or failing to make use of the latest tests or technology. Sometimes doctors get an idea in their head about what is going on and they fail to look at evidence that it may be something else. In such cases there is the possibility of negligent behavior leading to medical malpractice.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, there is growing evidence that patients who obtain second opinions can lead to significant changes in a diagnosis or in recommendations for treating a disease. That is particularly the case when a diagnosis has been based on radiology images or pathology slides from biopsies.

The fact is that some diseases are very difficult to diagnose correctly and test results can be inconclusive or inaccurate. About one in 10 mammograms, for example, results in a false positive. Diagnostic testing often leaves ample room for carelessness on the part of physicians. Almost half of the medical malpractice claims at Harvard University medical institutions which resulted in serious harm or death over the last five years was the result of diagnostic errors.

The painkiller Vicodin has proven to be a very addictive drug to many. Drug-makers are now working on a similar product said to be 10 times as powerful as Vicodin and some are considering it a dangerous drug.

Four different drug companies are working on developing this highly powerful painkiller, which contains pure hydrocodone, a pain-killing substance that is known to be incredibly addictive. Currently, consumers cannot legally buy pure hydrocodone unless it is mixed with other non-addictive painkillers. Hydrocodone is actually the second-most abused drug in the United States behind oxycodone.

Health giant Johnson & Johnson is in the crosshairs of a recent lawsuit for allegedly not pulling a dangerous product off the shelves quick enough. A couple in Washington claimed that their son took a defective drug produced by the New Jersey-based company, and died as a result.

In the summer of 2010, the 2-year-old boy took strawberry-flavored liquid Children's Tylenol to help battle a mild fever. Not even an hour later, the boy was brought to the hospital because he was spitting up blood. He died the next day, and doctors determined that his death was a result of liver damage sustained at the hands of the defective drug. The Children's Tylenol was a part of a batch that contained too much acetaminophen, which caused the liver damage. Doctors tested the boy both before and after his death to reveal that no other viruses or ailments could have played a role in his death.

The judicial panel in a Louisiana federal court recently announced the consolidation of two dangerous drug lawsuits against Eli Lilly & Co. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

Both lawsuits accuse the diabetes drug known as Actos of causing bladder cancer or increasing the risk of bladder cancer. In addition, the suits say information about the risks was withheld and warnings were not provided by Eli Lilly and Takeda.

According to a new inspection report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, multiple problems have been discovered at the Ben Venue Laboratories Inc. facility, which produces the cancer medication known as Doxil.

The issues are serious enough that they could produce a defective drug due to the lack of investigations of defective batches and from the lack of equipment maintenance. There has also apparently been a lack of follow-up procedure and failure to follow even standard procedures in manufacture of the drug.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration released documents stating that new information about the risk of blood clots from new contraceptive drugs may result in increased warnings on labels of popular birth control pills like Yaz.

Yaz and several other birth control pills containing the hormone drospirenone been implicated by a growing body of evidence that newer contraceptive drugs may pose more risks than older ones. The evidence flies in the face of marketing messages that have said newer contraceptives are safer than previous ones.