Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

The family of the man whose Aug. 28 death spurred the first recall of Toyota vehicles for unintended acceleration has filed a products liability and negligence lawsuit against the Japanese automaker.

Mark Saylor, 45, a California Highway Patrol Officer, was killed along with his family after the 2009 Lexus he was driving suddenly accelerated out of control while on Interstate 125 near San Diego.

Read full story here at Law.com

Continue reading "Law Suit Filed in Crash That Prompted First Toyota Recall" »

In an annual 2009 report released by Bayer, the number of contraceptive lawsuits over Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella has risen to about 1,100 filed cases, and that number will continue to increase as thousands of women are considering claims for serious injuries that have been caused by side effects of the birth control pills.

Included among the claims are five Yasmin and Yaz class action lawsuits; three filed in the United States and two filed in Canada, according to Bayer’s 2009 annual report released late last month.

Read the full Bayer 2009 Report here

Continue reading " Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella 1,100 Birth Control Lawsuits Filed" »

A Philadelphia jury yesterday ordered Pfizer Inc.'s Wyeth unit to pay $9.45 million to an Alabama woman who claimed that the company's hormone-replacement drug caused her breast cancer.

The Common Pleas Court jury awarded $3.25 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages to Audrey Singleton, a retired school-bus driver from Chatom, Ala. The verdict also included $200,000 to Singleton's husband for loss of consortium.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Ala. Woman Awarded $9.45 M in Wyeth-Hormone Lawsuit" »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc rejected allegations that it concealed safety information about its diabetes drug Avandia or acted inappropriately in marketing it, saying a U.S. Senate staff report was inaccurate and incomplete.

The company diligently studied the drug’s safety and effectiveness, and communicated its findings to governments, regulators, scientists and doctors, London-based Glaxo said in a statement.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Glaxo Backs Avandia’s Safety Says That US Report Biased " »

A jury has awarded a woman $23.4 million in a civil judgment against Ford Motor Co. for a 2007 freeway accident that left her a quadriplegic.

Cynthia Castillo lost control of her 1997 Ford Explorer when the tread separated from her left-rear tire as she drove on the freeway.

Her attorney, Brian Brandt, said the SUV veered off the freeway and rolled three times down an embankment, leaving her legs and most of her body paralyzed. Flaws in the vehicle's design caused it to lose control when the tire tread separates, Brandt said.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Woman Gets $23.4M for Personal Injury Ford Crash" »

The Food and Drug Administration, under fire from a new Senate report questioning the safety of GlaxoSmithKline PLC's diabetes drug Avandia, told doctors that patients taking the medicine should stay on it unless their doctors say otherwise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), the chairwoman of the House appropriations panel that controls the FDA's budget, said: "I strongly urge the FDA to remove Avandia from the market until a truly independent, science-based advisory panel can evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the drug."

Read full article here at the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading "FDA Faces More Pressure to Pull Avandia Diabetes Drug" »

Three years ago, Dr.Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, conducted a landmark study that suggested that the best-selling diabetes drug Avandia raised the risk of heart attacks. The study led to a Congressional inquiry, stringent safety warnings, a sharp drop in the drug’s sales of GlaxoSmithKline, Avandia’s maker.

The battle between Dr. Nissen and GlaxoSmithKline was waged from afar in news releases and published papers. But on May 10, 2007, 11 days before Dr. Nissen’s study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, he and four company executives met face to face in a private meeting whose details have not been disclosed until now.

Read the full article here at the New York Times.

Continue reading "Heart Attack and Heart Failure Side Effects of Avandia Diabetes Drug" »

The maker of Poligrip denture cream will stop making formulas containing zinc amid lawsuits claiming years of excessive use caused neurological damage and blood problems in consumers, allegedly crippling some.

GlaxoSmithKline will stop making and marketing Super Poligrip Original, Ultra Fresh and Extra Care products in the U.S. The company plans to reformulate the creams without zinc.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Continue reading "Glaxo to Remove Zinc From Denture Cream" »

Confidential studies by Food and Drug Administration officials recommend that GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia, a diabetes medicine, get pulled from the market because it is linked to heart attacks.

The studies, released as part of a report on Avandia by staff of Senate Finance Committee members Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Max Baucus (D., Mont.), also say any head-to-head trial where patients get Avandia and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s diabetes medicine Actos would be "unethical and exploitative." GlaxoSmithKline is currently sponsoring a study, called TIDE, where patients get either Avandia, Actos or other medicines.

Read the full Wall Street Journal Story here

Continue reading "GlaxoSmithKline Knew of Avandia's Cardiac Risks, Senate Report Says" »

Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market.

The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart. Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.

Read full New York Times dtory here.

Continue reading "FDA Report Avandia Diabetes Drug Harms Heart" »

The jury ordered pain pump manufacturer I-Flow Corp. to pay $4.5 million to a man whose implanted pump caused the cartilage in his shoulder joint to wear almost completely away, a condition known as chondrolysis.

In the first verdict of its kind, an Oregon jury has found for the plaintiff in a case against the manufacturer of a pain pump, awarding $4.5 million to a man for permanent damage to his shoulder joint. The verdict, which included damages paid to his wife for loss of consortium, comes in what many considered a test case for the defense. (Beale v. I-Flow Corp., No. 080101554 (Or., Multnomah Co. Dist. Jan. 22, 2010).)

Read full story here Trial

Continue reading "Oregon Jury Finds for Plaintiff in First Pain Pump Verdict " »

Toyota Motor Corp. and U.S. regulators are looking into possible steering problems in the company's popular Corolla compact, the latest quality issue to surface in the wake of two recalls that covered millions of vehicles and forced Toyota to halt U.S. sales of eight models.

The Corolla investigation could start as early as Thursday, said a U.S. Transportation Department official. The inquiry will cover about 500,000 model-year 2009 and 2010 Corollas, officials said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 163 complaints about the steering in Corollas from those model years, according to the safety agency's Web site.

Read the full Wall Street Journal Article here.

Continue reading "U.S. to Probe Toyota Corolla Steering Reports " »

U.S. regulators on Tuesday opened an investigation into whether Toyota Motor Corp acted in a timely way to recall cars for acceleration problems, and the automaker moved to slow its U.S. production to avoid a costly ballooning of inventories.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had requested production data, consumer complaints and other documents expected to shed light on how and when Toyota learned of problems affecting about 6 million vehicles it has recalled in the United States.

Read full Reuters story here.

Continue reading "U.S. Opens Probe into Toyota Recalls; Output Cut" »

Roche Holding AG, the Swiss drugmaker, must pay $25.16 million in damages to a former user of its Accutane drug who blamed the acne medicine for his inflammatory bowel disease, a New Jersey jury ruled.

Andrew McCarrell, 38, won the verdict at a retrial in Atlantic City, New Jersey. An appeals court ordered the new trial after overturning a $2.62 million award he won in May 2007. McCarrell, a computer technician from Birmingham, Alabama, testified he got sick after taking the drug for acne in 1995. He needed five surgeries, including one to remove his colon.

Read the full Reuter story here.

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Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles have been linked to 34 deaths by consumers filing complaints with the U.S. government over unexpected acceleration, according to the Transportation Department.

The total jumped by 13 fatalities since Jan. 27 as nine more filings were added to a database the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses to track deaths, injuries and consumer complaints.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601209&sid=aPso41xXZS60Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Toyota Acceleration Complaints Cite 34 Deaths, U.S. Data Show" »

The wife of the driver of a 2008 Avalon that shot into a pond in Southlake and flipped, killing four people, said she believes quicker action by Toyota could have prevented the tragedy.

Linda Hardy's husband, Monty, was behind the wheel of his car that landed upside down in a small pond in Southlake.

Read full story here at WFAA

Continue reading "WFAA: Wife of Southlake Texas Driver Who Died Slams Toyota " »

The company vigorously denies that its vehicles' acceleration problems might stem from an electronic or software glitch. But it remains an open question, and any such finding would be devastating.

In the nearly five months since it launched a string of recalls to stop its cars from accelerating out of control, Toyota Motor Corp. has been adamant about one thing: It's not the electronics.

Company officials first put the blame on floor mats that could entrap the accelerator, later amending that to include gas pedals themselves that could stick.

Read the full story here at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Toyota Car Recall: Now Electronics Questions" »

A Colorado man has fought mostly unsuccessfully to get his concerns heard since his wife's Prius car accident in 2006.

Before his wife's Prius suddenly accelerated uncontrollably to 90 miles per hour on a mountain highway, you'd have been hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Toyota than Ted James.

A middle-school science teacher and ardent environmentalist, James got a Prius for his wife, Elizabeth, and a Corolla for himself.

Read the full story here at the Los Angeles Times.

Continue reading "Colorado Man's Crusade to Bring Attention to Defective Toyota Cars" »

State and local governments across the country may have to replace their water systems because of defective pipes, according to a whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed this week.

The whistle-blower, John Hendrix, accuses his former employer, one of the world’s largest pipe manufacturers, of falsifying test results about the quality of its products. Pipes that should last 50 years are in some cases rupturing in their very first year, according to Mr. Hendrix and some state documents. This can lead to explosions, leaks, fires and other dangers.

Read full New York Times story here.

Continue reading "Defective PVC Bursting Pipes Lead to a Legal Battle " »

Former regulators hired by Toyota Motor Corp. helped end at least four U.S. investigations of unintended acceleration by company vehicles in the last decade, warding off possible recalls, court and government records show.

Christopher Tinto, vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Christopher Santucci, who works for Tinto, helped persuade the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to end probes including those of 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras, court documents show. Both men joined Toyota directly from NHTSA, Tinto in 1994 and Santucci in 2003.

Read full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Ex NHTSA Regulators Hired by Toyota Helped Halt Investigations" »

Four Toyota Motor Corp. units were named as defendants in a racketeering lawsuit that claims the companies collaborated to sell cars they knew were unsafe.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 8 in federal court in Covington, Kentucky, targets Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., as well units that produce Toyota’s Camry and Avalon models and handle leasing and engineering.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Toyota Units Named in Suit Claiming Racketeering " »

Legal expenses and damages could add billions to Toyota's recall costs, with dozens of suits pending over injuries and deaths and at least 30 seeking class-action status over lost use of vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s massive recalls for acceleration and braking problems are creating a huge legal liability for the company -- and Toyota owners may share in the pain.

Toyota faces dozens of lawsuits over injuries and deaths attributed to safety problems, with many more suits expected. Lawyers and legal experts said the lawsuits could be particularly expensive for the automaker if plaintiffs prove that Toyota was aware of problems but failed to correct them.

Read full story here at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Toyota Faces Massive Legal Liability From Defective Cars" »

Two defibrillator brands made by Boston Scientific Corp. have a design flaw that can result in the devices delivering potentially life-threatening shocks to the hearts of patients, authors of a medical journal article say.

The defect can cause the Cognis and Teligen brand defibrillators to deliver the shocks when they aren't needed in the many patients who get the devices implanted just under the skin, according to an article in the journal HeartRhythm. The potential malfunction, while appearing to be extremely rare, could in theory affect any of the more than 90,000 devices implanted, said the authors. They advised physicians to look for the problem should the devices malfunction.

Read the full story here at the Wall Street Journal

Continue reading "Boston Scientific Defibrillator Safety Questioned " »

Toyota said that its dealers are working overtime to fix sticking gas pedals on some 2.1 million recalled vehicles at a rate of 50,000 per day and have so far repaired 225,000 cars.

Toyota recalled 3.8 million vehicles last fall to repair what it called floor-mat "entrapment" of the gas pedal, and an additional 2.1 million cars last month to fix what it calls an unrelated sticky-gas-pedal problem.

Read the full story here at the Washington Post.

Continue reading "Toyota to Fix Gas Pedals as Lawsuits Increase" »

A Texas attorney is moving at full speed with a proposed class action against Toyota over accidents allegedly caused by stuck gas pedals, even as the automaker announced it has a remedy to put the brakes on the problem.

Representing Corpus Christi residents Sylvia and Albert Pena III and others similarly situated, attorney Hilliard filed suit against Toyota Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. The suit was filed Jan. 29 in the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas.

"This is a civil action against defendants based upon information and belief that defendants, and each of them, designed, manufactured, distributed, and sold certain automobiles equipped with the Electronic Throttle Control System with Intelligence (ETCS-i) and/or Electronic Throttle Control System (ETC) that is defective in that it will allow sudden unintended acceleration of the vehicle engine," wrote Hilliard.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Breach of Warranty Claimed in Texas Class Action Against Toyota " »

Cardiac Science Corporation and FDA notified healthcare professionals and consumers of a recall because the automated external defibrillator (AED) may not be able to deliver therapy during a cardiac resuscitation attempt, which may lead to serious adverse events or death.

Each of the approximately 12,200 devices affected in this recall can be confirmed at the Cardiac Science Web site, www.cardiacscience.com/AED195.

The affected AEDs were manufactured or serviced between October 19, 2009 and January 15, 2010 and include the following models - Powerheart 9300A, 9300E, 9300P, 9390A, 9390E, CardioVive 92532 and CardioLife 9200G and 9231. Each affected AED should immediately be removed from service since it may not deliver the expected therapy.

Read the complete MedWatch 2010 Safety summary, including a link to the firm press release, at: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm200138.htm

Bayer Healthcare Corp. clearly stated its oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz contained possible side effects, the pills' maker said in response to lawsuits.

More than 50 women in Indianapolis have filed suit against the company, joining dozens of women nationwide who allege the birth control pills caused heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and other health problems, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.

Read full story here.

Toyota said that it would recall 437,000 of its 2010 Priuses and other hybrid models worldwide because of a glitch in the braking system. 155,000 are in the United States and another 53,000 in Europe.

Separately, Toyota also recalled 7,300 of its latest-model Camrys in the United States to fix a power steering pressure hose in the engine compartment that may be the incorrect length. This could cause a hole in the brake tube and deplete the braking fluid, interfering with braking.

Read the full New York Times story here.

Continue reading "Toyota Recalls 2010 Prius for Brake Problems " »

More than 50 women claim in lawsuits filed in Indianapolis that they suffered strokes, heart attacks or other serious health problems while taking the birth control pills Yasmin or Yaz, manufactured by Bayer Healthcare Corp.

Across the nation, dozens of lawsuits have been filed in the past few months by women claiming similar health problems after taking the pills.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Indiana Women sue Bayer over Yasmin pill" »

Toyota has told dealers it's preparing a plan to repair the brakes on thousands of hybrid Prius cars in the U.S.

In a message sent last night to dealers, a Toyota group vice president, Bob Carter, said the company is working on a plan and will disclose more details early next week. More than 100 drivers of 2010 Prius cars have complained that their brakes seemed to fail momentarily when they were driving on bumpy roads. The U.S. government says the problem is suspected in four crashes and two minor injuries.

Read full story at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Toyota Preparing to Announce Prius Fix " »

Faced with an unprecedented recall of millions of vehicles and rivals swooping in on its customers, the public relations machine at Toyota Motor Corp -- one of the most savvy brand-creators in Asia -- is floundering.

Toyota has consistently played down recurring complaints of unintended acceleration, breaking what PR experts said is the cardinal rule in crisis management: assume the worst.

Read full article here.

Continue reading "Toyota Grapples With Huge Car Recall" »

A Cincinnati couple has filed a lawsuit against Toyota charging fraud and negligence over a safety issue involving gas pedals that has caused a massive auto recall.

The lawsuit, filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, seeks class-action status on behalf of all Ohio residents who have bought or leased vehicles Toyota-manufactured vehicles subject to the recall. Attorney Chesley, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Hugh and Pamela Cox, said Wednesday that the class could involve thousands of Ohio residents.

Read full story here Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Continue reading "Ohio Couple Files Lawsuit Against Toyota Over Recall " »

The trip was one that Guadalupe Alberto had made many times before, just a few miles through her neighborhood to the small grocery store her family had owned for years.

It was a Saturday afternoon, April 2008, and Mrs. Alberto, a 77-year-old former autoworker, was driving her 2005 Toyota Camry. Within blocks of her home, witnesses told police, the car accelerated out of control, jumped a curb and flew through the air before crashing into a tree. Mrs. Alberto was killed instantly.

Read the rest of the NY Times article here.

Continue reading "More Crashes Adds toToyota’s Problems" »

Toyota Motor Corp. said it knew previously about complaints related to the brakes of its Prius hybrid car and Thursday expanded a safety probe to all its hybrid models.

The Japanese auto maker said it found and corrected problems with its new 2010 Prius hybrid and said it did not try to "cover up" the glitch. But the disclosure and the expansion of its investigation to include such models as its Lexus HS250h and Sai luxury hybrid sedans comes amid intensifying government and public scrutiny of the world's No. 1 auto maker by vehicle sales.

Read the full story here at the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading "Toyota Investigates Brakes on All Hybrids After Problems With Prius " »

Legal attacks against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. increased this week following fresh reports of product-safety defects afflicting some of the most popular vehicles in the automaker's fleet.

Toyota announced on Jan. 26 that it would stop selling eight models because of accelerator pedals that can stick in the depressed position, causing the cars to speed up out of control. The company has recalled 2.3 million vehicles with that problem. Earlier, Toyota recalled another 4.2 million vehicles, blaming a problem with floor mats.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Lawsuits Beginning to Pile Up Against Toyota Dallas Car Accident Attorney" »

News 8 has confirmed that a sticking accelerator is being investigated as one possible cause of a crash in Southlake in December that killed four people driving in a Toyota Avalon.

Recently, Toyota issued an extensive recall of close to 3 million vehicles for that very reason.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Update Southlake Toyota Wrongful Death Car Crash" »

The family of a Houston woman whose car smashed into a cement wall, killing her on impact, filed what is likely the third acceleration-related wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota in the nation.

Trina Harris, a 34-year-old mother of two, died on impact when her 2009 Toyota Corolla slammed into an East Hardy Toll Road cement divider, leaving no skid marks.

Her husband, filed a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., gas pedal maker CTS Corp. and Fred Haas Toyota World, which leased her the car.

Read the full story here.

In response to a nationwide recall of approximately 5.3 million Toyota vehicles for defective accelerator pedals, plaintiff's attorneys have filed three lawsuits in New Orleans asking Toyota to return profits it made from the sale of the vehicles.

The lawsuits state that the accelerator mechanism of the vehicles can become stuck in a depressed position and fail to return or return slowly to the idle position causing, "extreme, uncontrollable and inherently dangerous acceleration."

The Toyota models affected by the January recall include the 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2008-2010 Sequoia and the 2007-2010 Camry.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Class Actions Against Toyota Over Gas Pedals Filed in New Orleans " »

– Toyota Motor Corp is facing a growing number lawsuits from consumers who complain their vehicles suddenly accelerate or may do so, and want the world's largest automaker to pay for it.

Last week, Toyota stopped selling eight models in the United States and Canada, including its popular Camry and Corolla, because of possible unintended acceleration.

Some 8 million vehicles are up for repair worldwide over problems including alleged faulty accelerator pedals made by the supplier CTS Corp, and the possibility that floor mats could jam the accelerator pedal.

Read the full story here Yahoo.com

Continue reading "Toyota's Huge Problem: Product Liability Lawsuits" »

The family of Kristen Spears alleges an overdose of the drug manufactured by Irvine-based Allergan Inc. killed her at age 7.

Spears started getting Botox injections at the age of 6 -- not to smooth furrows in her brow, but to calm spasms in her legs.

The girl was born with severe cerebral palsy, and Botox, best known as a face-lift-in-a-syringe, can relax contorted muscles and sometimes help young patients walk without surgery.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Allergan Trial Will Focus on Botox's Safety in Cerebral Palsy Treatments" »

A Multnomah County jury ordered a medical-device company to pay $4.75 million to a Portland, Oregon, man and his wife in a product-liability lawsuit that may have national implications, according to a report in The Oregonian.

The jury found I-Flow Corp. liable for destroying the cartilage in Matthew Beale's right shoulder and leaving the 38-year-old father of four with constant pain and a disabled arm, the newspaper reported.

Continue reading "Kimberly-Clark Unit Must Pay $4.75 M in Product Lawsuit" »

European and American drug regulators had two starkly different reactions this week to data on an obesity drug. The raw data from the study indicated that people with certain health problems who took the prescription diet drug Meridia had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems than people getting a placebo.

Continue reading "Heart Patients Warned Against Using Meridia, an Anti-Obesity Drug " »

Florida smokers who lose personal-injury suits against tobacco companies could be on the hook for the opposition's attorney fees under a settlement strategy being pursued by cigarette makers.

Tobacco companies have been offering the state's 8,000 smoker plaintiffs minuscule amounts of money -- typically $500 to $2,500 -- to settle wrongful death and negligence cases potentially worth millions of dollars. The catch: Florida law says plaintiffs who obtain a significantly smaller judgment than a rejected settlement offer must pay the other side's attorney fees.

Continue reading "Big Tobacco Strategy Scares Off Potential Plaintiffs" »

Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals has significant product liability claims over its oral contraceptive Yaz and its alleged dangerous side effects.

Yaz, Yasmin, and the generic version Ocella have all come under attack for their overstated benefits and minimized risks. Experts predict that more than 25,000 cases could eventually be filed by women alleging dangerous side effects from using the prescription contraceptive.

Read the latest minutes from the Southern Illinois MDL court.
Download file

Continue reading "Yaz MDL Lawsuit: Dallas Texas Yaz Attorney" »

Three personal injury lawsuits were filed against Pfizer Inc last week, claiming its smoking cessation drug Chantix caused attempted suicides and death.

The lawsuits, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, claim that at the time the plaintiffs took Chantix, Pfizer did not tell doctors and patients about dangers it allegedly knew were related to the drug, including depression and thoughts of suicide.

Continue reading "Lawsuits Claim Chantix led to Attempted Suicide and Death" »

In Pennsylvania's first precedent-setting decision regarding hormone replacement therapy mass tort litigation, the Superior Court has revived a plaintiff's lawsuit by finding that the plaintiff was entitled to an exception to the two-year statute of limitations because she couldn't have reasonably known of an alleged link between her breast cancer and HRT drugs before the publication of a widely publicized study.

Continue reading "Pa. Court Revives Plaintiff Verdict in Hormone-Replacement Case" »

Baxter International Inc., which recalled its blood thinner heparin amid reports of allergic reactions and deaths in 2008, faces at least 30 lawsuits in Chicago by injured people or their estates.

As many as 300 product-liability complaints may be filed in the Illinois state court, according to plaintiffs’ attorney Allen Schwartz. His law firm and two others are working to comply with a judge’s order last year to convert an aggregate lawsuit to individual claims against the Deerfield, Illinois-based company.

Continue reading "Baxter Faces New Lawsuits Over Tainted Heparin" »

- Baxter International Inc., which recalled its blood thinner heparin amid reports of allergic reactions and deaths in 2008, faces at least 30 lawsuits in Chicago by injured people or their estates.

As many as 300 product-liability complaints may be filed in the Illinois state court, according to plaintiffs’ attorney Allen Schwartz of Kralovec, Jambois & Schwartz.

Continue reading "Baxter Faces Dozens of New Suits Over Tainted Heparin " »

The maker of a popular treatment for severe acne will get a new trial, 10 months after the New Jersey Appellate Division struck down a $2.6 million verdict against it.

Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., maker of Accutane, is alleged to have caused inflammatory bowel disease in some of the drug's users in a multi-district litigation proceeding in Atlantic County Superior Court. Andrew McCarrell was awarded $2.6 million in his lawsuit in 2007.

Continue reading "New Accutane Trial to Begin in New Jersey" »

Byetta (exenatide) is a type 2 diabetes drug that is used to control blood sugar levels. It is part of a class of medications known as incretin mimetics, which imitate natural hormones that lower blood glucose levels. Last month, the FDA expanded the use of Byetta to a stand-alone diabetes treatment, but insisted that warnings about the risk of pancreatitis from Byetta be added to the label and will require additional studies.

Continue reading "Byetta Lawsuit Update Dallas Texas Attorney" »

What happens to women after they get a cholecystectomy for gallstones after taking Yaz?

Bile is an important part of digesting fats, and following Yaz gallbladder removal surgery, problems can occur such as bloating and diarrhea. Bile is still produced by the liver, but now bile is continuously released in into the intestine. Problems can occur when eating a meal that is high in fat content since there may not be enough bile in the intestine to adequately handle the normal absorption process.

Continue reading "Yaz Side Effect Gallbladder MDL and Lawsuits" »

A federal appeals court reinstated more than 100 lawsuits against drug companies filed by women or their surviving relatives who claimed that hormone replacement therapy caused breast cancer.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a 2008 district court ruling that had blocked almost all of the suits from being sent back to state court in Minnesota and dismissed most of the lawsuits that were being heard in Little Rock.

Continue reading "Fed Appeals Court Sends Ark Prempro Cases Back to Minn " »

The FDA has warned Amylin Pharmaceuticals that they have made false and misleading statements about the diabetes drug Byetta.

The FDA letter was sent to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, alerting the company that federal regulators were aware of statements made by representatives that provided misleading or false information about the benefits of their product.

Download the FDA Warning Letter here.
Download file

Continue reading "FDA Calls Byetta Claims Misleading Dallas Byetta Attorney" »

Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson face a review of their top-selling anemia drugs by an advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA will ask its advisers to evaluate whether lower doses would avoid increased risks of blood clots and heart attacks in patients with chronic kidney disease. The panel was announced in a New England Journal of Medicine commentary.

Continue reading "Amgen’s, J&J’s Anemia Drugs Face FDA Advisory Review on Dose" »

For John Norrie, the recall of his HP Pavilion Notebook computer came too late.

The laptop allegedly overheated, causing a fire that ripped through Norrie’s Plymouth MA home in November 2006 while he was sleeping. The house was destroyed and Norrie suffered serious injuries in the process of escaping.

Continue reading "MA Lawsuit Claims HP was Negligent in Laptop Fire" »

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it would review of the safety of the widely used anemia drugs sold by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson after another clinical trial suggested that high doses of one of the drugs might cause strokes.

Continue reading "FDA Advisory Panel to Re-evaluate Amgen, J&J Anemia Drugs." »

YAZ is the Bayer Health Care brand name for the combination of drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol.

Each monthly prescription contains 24 active pills and 4 inactive pills. YAZ was widely prescribed for regulating menstrual periods, minimizing premenstrual syndrome (PMS), treating premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), preventing pregnancy, decreasing irritability and moodiness,and curing mild to moderate acne.

Very little information was available to the public regarding serious side effects until recently and YAZ quickly became the most prescribed oral contraceptive in the United States.

Continue reading "Do You Have a Texas Yaz Birth Control Claim?" »

When we reviewed the litigation over AstraZeneca's antipsychotic Seroquel in June, there was debate over whether the litigation was a bust for the thousands of plaintiffs who'd filed suits claiming the drug caused their diabetes.

Delaware court judge, who had just tossed a Seroquel case on Daubert grounds, warned in his opinion that plaintiffs had yet to establish that link successfully. But plaintiffs lawyer Paul Pennock of Weitz & Luxenberg cautioned us to reserve judgment. "Far from going away, Seroquel is about to reveal AstraZeneca as one of the worst managers of a mass tort litigation in history," he said.

Read the full article here.

Continue reading "Seroquel Plaintiffs Lose Diabetes Claim in Delaware" »

In 2006, Yaz was approved by the FDA as treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). It was the first birth control pill to gain such approval and women sufferers of severe PMS looked forward to relief from symptoms that affected their overall enjoyment of life.

About 5% of women suffer from premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), These women suffer from depression and anxiety. Yaz apparently relieves much of this and has been very popular since its introduction.

Then reports began to surface about the side effects...

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Yaz Gallbladder Disease" »

Several thousand lawsuits could be filed across the United States for serious and deadly injuries allegedly caused by the contraceptive Yaz and related drugs. These lawsuits are consolidated in Southern Illinois federal court, in East St Louis.

U.S. District Chief Judge David Herndon has the task of presiding over the lawsuits against Bayer Corp. The cases allege that the birth-control pills Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella cause women to suffer increased risks of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, gallbladder disease, among other life-threatening complications.

Read the full story here.
Get the Tweet here.

Continue reading "How Many Texas Yaz Injury Lawsuits Cases Are Out There?a" »

A Philadelphia law firm filed 10 lawsuits on behalf of boys and young men who developed serious side effects - including the growth of breasts - while taking the antipsychotic medications Risperdal and Invega.

The suits were filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Lawyer Stephen Sheller said he expected to file an additional 20 to 30 similar cases in Philadelphia in the next two months. His firm also has 10 cases involving boys who took Risperdal and another medication pending in New Jersey.

Continue reading "Risperdal and Invega Lawsuits Filed Over Drug Side Effects" »

A Pfizer Inc. unit must face a $1.5 million damage award over one of its menopause drugs, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled.

A Philadelphia trial judge erred in throwing out the jury verdict against Pfizer’s Pharmacia & Upjohn unit, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled today. The appellate court reinstated the damage award to Merle Simon, who contends Upjohn’s hormone-replacement drug Provera helped cause her breast cancer.

Continue reading "Pfizer Must Face Menopause-Drug Punitive Award" »

Tina Griffin says she was never really sick a day in her life, at least not until 2002.

While on a weekend vacation with friends, the Manassas Park resident found a lump in her right breast during her shower. She had been taking Premarin and Prempro, two hormone therapy drugs that have been under scrutiny for potentially causing breast cancer.

Continue reading "VA Woman Sues Pfizer Drug Company Over Breast Cancer" »

Four people died in December just after Christmas after their car flipped over into a six-foot-deep pond in Southlake.

Just before 11:20 a.m., the Toyota sedan drove through the intersection of Lonesome Dove Road and Burney Lane, crashed into a metal fence, hit a tree, and landed upside-down in a pond on the grounds of a mansion.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Four Dead After Toyota Car Crashes Into Southlake Pond " »

Already on the hook for the lion's share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed.

The agreement came after a Clayton County, Ga., jury ordered Ford on Dec. 18 to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger.

Continue reading "Ford Settles Explorer Suit as Jury Considers Damages" »

Federal judge Herndon, who is presiding over the consolidated MDL litigation over Yaz and Yasmin birth control product liability cases, indicated that both sides in the case are working to move the litigation at a fast pace, which is keeping with the Court’s desire for the cases to “move along efficiently and effectively.”

In September, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all federal court Yaz litigation and Yasmin litigation, involving claims that the popular birth control pills increase the risk of blood clots and other injuries, be consolidated and coordinated for pretrial litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

Read all of the orders and progress of the MDL cases here.

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Yasmin Yaz MDL Litigation Gaining Momentum" »

A Times investigation shows the world's largest automaker has delayed recalls and attempted to blame human error in cases where owners claimed vehicle defects.

During a routine test on its Sienna minivan in April 2003, Toyota Motor Corp. engineers discovered that a plastic panel could come loose and cause the gas pedal to stick, potentially making the vehicle accelerate out of control.

The automaker redesigned the part and by that June every 2004 model year Sienna off the assembly line came with the new panel. Toyota did not notify tens of thousands of people who had already bought vans with the old panel.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Toyota did not Disclose Potential Safety Problems" »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it's "unlikely" Merck & Co.'s cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia increase the risk of cancer or cancer-related death.

Still, the FDA said it can't "definitively" rule out that the drugs may be associated with increased cancer risk.

"Based on the currently available information, FDA believes it is unlikely that Vytorin or Zetia increase the risk of cancer or cancer-related death, but at this time an association cannot be definitively ruled out," the agency said in a posting on its Web site.

Continue reading "FDA Says 'Unlikely' That Vytorin, Zetia Increase Cancer Risk" »

Jurors said in 2007 that a Pfizer Inc. unit should pay more than $8 million in punitive damages to a woman who blamed the company’s menopause drugs for her breast cancer.

A Philadelphia jury in January 2007 awarded Mary Daniel compensatory damages of $1.5 million in her lawsuit against Pfizer’s Wyeth subsidiary over its Prempro menopause treatment. The panel recommended she get more than $8 million in punitive damages if an appeals court found she was entitled to such an award because of bad conduct by the company.

Read the full Bloomberg report here.

Continue reading "Pfizer Jury Said to Set Prempro Punitive Damages at $8 M" »

American women in the 1990s were told they could help their bodies ward off major illness by taking menopausal hormone drugs. Some medical associations said so. Many gynecologists and physicians said so. Respected medical journals said so, too.

Along the way, television commercials positioned hormone drugs as treatments for more than hot flashes and night sweats — just two of the better-known symptoms of menopause, which is technically defined as commencing one year after a woman’s last menstrual cycle.

One commercial about estrogen loss by the drug maker Wyeth discussed research into connections between menopause and heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and blindness.

Continue reading "Prempro Litigation and Menopause" »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has paid almost $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it introduced the antidepressant in 1993, including about $390 million for suicides or attempted suicides said to be linked to the drug, according to court records and people familiar with the cases.

As part of the total, Glaxo, so far has paid $200 million to settle Paxil addiction and birth-defect cases and $400 million to end antitrust, fraud and design claims, according to the people and court records.

Continue reading "Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion in Paxil Suits " »

Saints coach Sean Payton is the lead plaintiff in a 591-page class action lawsuit against Knauf Plasterboard Tainjin Co. Ltd., a Chinese company that manufactured drywall that is believed to be corroding homes and making people sick.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on behalf of people with this particular brand of drywall, attempts to give some scope to the problem of defective drywall as both plaintiffs and defendants figure out how many people are affected and much it will cost to repair damage.

Continue reading "New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton is Lead Plaintiff in Chinese Drywall Suit" »

Bayer CropScience LP must pay about $2 million for losses sustained by two Missouri farmers when an experimental variety of rice the company was testing cross-bred with their crops, a federal jury ruled.

The verdict in St. Louis came in the first trial in what is intended to be a series of test cases against the unit of Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer AG. The jury of four men and five women began deliberating on Dec. 2, about a month after it began hearing claims brought by Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter.

Continue reading "Bayer Must Pay Farmers for Contaminated Rice Crop " »

After 13 hours of intensifying pain, two trips to the emergency room and two CT scans, doctors finally found what was ailing Lottie Green.

In her left lung, the pulmonologist told her, was the largest blood clot they had ever seen and there were others in her right lung as well, she said.

Soon after the 41-year-old Bethesda, Md., resident was released from a hospital last month, Ms. Green joined hundreds of other women in lawsuits against Germany's Bayer AG, the maker of the popular oral contraceptive Yaz.

Continue reading "Fort Worth Texas Yaz Yasmin Birth Control Lawsuit Update" »

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is weighing further regulation of three drugs used to create high-contrast images on MRI scans, based on a new analysis that suggests they carry a higher risk of causing a rare, but potentially fatal disease.

The issue, marks a setback for GE Healthcare (GE), which contends that its product is no riskier than competing imaging drugs. FDA reviewers said GE's drug, Omniscan, had a disproportionately high number of reports of the disease compared with its peers.

Continue reading "FDA Review Says MRI Imaging Drugs That Contain Gadolinium Riskier for Kidney Patients " »

A consumer advocacy group is petitioning the government to ban the weight loss pill Meridia because a recent study suggests it increases risk of heart attack, stroke and death.

A letter Thursday from Public Citizen calls on the Food and Drug Administration to pull Abbott Laboratories' drug from the U.S. market, where it is used by roughly a quarter million people.

Preliminary results from a 10,000-patient study — known as the SCOUT study — showed a slightly higher risk of heart-related problems in patients taking Meridia, also called sibutramine, compared with a dummy pill. Patients in the study were older than 55, overweight with a history of heart disease or diabetes.

Continue reading "Public Citizen Asks FDA to Ban Weight Loss Pill" »

Once upon a time, asbestos was practically everywhere. Because the material causes devastating forms of cancer and lung disease, huge product-liability litigation sprung up. That led to huge settlements, which led to the establishment of huge trusts, created to assure payment to millions of current and future claimants.

Some $20 billion now resides in these 40 or so trusts, set up by Johns Manville Corp., Owens Corning and other former makers and sellers of asbestos. But who’s overseeing the trusts? Is the money getting spent properly? In short, are the trusts working as designed?

Continue reading "Asbestos Mesothelioma Payout System is Being Questioned" »

The Supreme Court has left in place an $82.6 million award to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over.

The justices rejected Ford Motor Co.'s challenge to the portion of the award, $55 million, that was intended as punitive damages. Ford argued that it should not be punished because its design of the vehicle met federal safety standards.

A California state appeals court earlier rejected Ford's contention and upheld the award to Benetta Buell-Wilson.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Allows $82.6M Award in SUV Rollover" »

The state Supreme Court reinstated an $8 million default judgment against Hyundai Motor Co. in a lawsuit over the backward collapse of a front seat in a 1997 crash that left a man paralyzed.

In a 7-2 ruling, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had overturned a trial court's finding for Jesse Magana of Vancouver.

The justices said the South Korean automaker deliberately withheld documentation from Magana's lawyers for too long concerning other crashes in which front seats collapsed backward.

"Trial courts need not tolerate deliberate and willful discovery abuse," wrote the majority. "This result appropriately compensates the other party, punishes Hyundai, and hopefully educates and deters others so inclined."

Continue reading "WA Supreme Court Reinstates $8M Award Against Hyundai" »

The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission conceded that the agency “hasn’t been acting as quickly as it should” on crib safety problems.

More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations. The CPSC said the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based. Sales of the cribs being recalled go back to 1993 and nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo.

Continue reading "Federal Safety Regulators Announce New Crib Recall" »

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Merck osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes jaw damage, more than two months after a jury deadlocked in a case involving a similar claim.

U.S. District Judge John Keenan found that Bessie Flemings, 74, a Mississippi resident, failed to present enough evidence to show that her use of Fosamax caused osteonecrosis of the jaw, or the death of jawbone tissue.

Keenan said Flemings' case was the second "bellwether" trial in nationwide litigation over Fosamax, which has spawned close to 900 lawsuits.

Continue reading "Federal Lawsuit Dismissed Over Merck's Fosamax " »

A Florida jury ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema.

The Broward Circuit Court jury assessed $56.6 million in past and future medical expenses against the company, part of Altria Group Inc, as well as $244 million in punitive damages.

The verdict is the largest of the so-called Engle progeny cases that have been tried so far, both sides said.

Philip Morris will seek further review of the verdict because of "numerous erroneous rulings by the trial judge," Philip Morris spokesman Murray Garnick said in a statement.

Continue reading "Philip Morris Ordered to Pay $300 M to Smoker" »

Two Pfizer Inc. units’ hormone- replacement therapy drugs caused an Illinois woman’s breast cancer, making them liable for at least $6.3 million in damages, a Philadelphia jury ruled.

Jurors found that the combination of Wyeth’s Prempro and Pharmacia & Upjohn’s Provera menopause drugs was a substantial contributing factor in Donna Kendall’s breast cancer. Kendall, 66, had a double mastectomy in 2002 after taking the hormone-replacement drugs for 11 years.

The panel will hear evidence Nov. 23 on whether Wyeth and Upjohn should pay punitive damages over their handling of the drugs. Wyeth has lost six of nine jury verdicts, including the last four in a row, over the drugs since 2006. This is Upjohn’s third loss at the jury stage. A trial judge threw out one verdict and another is on appeal.

Continue reading "Pfizer Must Pay $6 M in Damages Over Prempro " »

Federal regulators are demanding changes to labels on devices that deliver pain killers directly to joints after surgery, in response to numerous reports of irreversible cartilage damage.

The Food and Drug Administration said from 2006 to 2008 it received 35 reports of severe cartilage damage in patients who were given pain pumps after joint surgery. Nearly all the reports involved patients who had shoulder surgery; more than half needed additional surgery, including joint replacement.

Companies making pain pumps include I-Flow Corp. and Stryker Corp. Makers of the anesthetics used in pain pumps, such as APP Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Hospira Inc., will also have to update their labels. The firms have 30 days to propose language that includes a warning about the potential for cartilage destruction, according to the FDA.

Continue reading "FDA Orders Change to Pain Pump Warning Labels." »

The Chinese drywall product liability complaint is now nearly a year old. And while incidents of Chinese drywall being installed in homes have all but stopped, complaints of bloody noses, sinus infections and vomiting spells for pets and people, widespread corrosion and blackening of copper tubing and wiring and "rotten egg" smell continue to escalate. Last spring, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission conducted 44 investigations into consumer complaints about drywall.

Continue reading "Updated Findings from the Chinese Drywall Report" »

Cancer patients who took drugs to cut the risk of anemia were twice as likely to develop blood clots in the lungs or legs as other patients, a decade-long study of more than 55,000 cancer patients has found.

The study adds to mounting evidence that the risks of the commonly used drugs -- known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents or ESAs -- may outweigh the benefits.

ESAs stimulate bone marrow to increase the production of red blood cells. They were first approved in cancer patients in 1991 to reduce the number of blood transfusions needed during chemotherapy.

Continue reading "Study Confirms Increased Blood Clot Risks With Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Drugs" »

There is progress to report in the Yaz and Yasmin multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2100) currently underway in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Judge David Herndon, who is overseeing the Yaz and Yasmin MDL, has appointed members to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee was appointed by Judge Herndon in an Order dated November 10, 2009.

Dr Shezad Malik will be working closely with the members of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

Continue reading "Dallas Yaz Lawsuit Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Appointed" »

KTLA TV in Los Angeles just ran an investigation and news article into Yaz and Yasmin side effects that folks may be interesting in watching.

Click here for the link.

Read the full article here.

Continue reading "KTLA: Yaz, Yasmin Birth Control Users Report Serious Problems " »

Researchers say trials of Pfizer Inc.’s Neurontin epilepsy treatment for uses that were not yet approved may have been altered to emphasize favorable results.

Comparisons of internal company documents with published data from 12 clinical trials found inconsistencies between data that made it into the medical journals and findings from the original trials, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Discrepancies included reports of positive results from trials that were initially found to be negative, and primary study goals reported as secondary study goals.

Continue reading "Data From Studies of Pfizer Neurontin Drug May Have Been Altered" »

- Toyota Motor Corp. has failed to correct a problem with the throttle control system on some of its vehicles, causing them to suddenly accelerate, lawyers for consumers said in a lawsuit.

Los Angeles residents Seong Bae Choi and Chris Chan Park, who claim they experienced multiple instances of unintended acceleration, filed the suit as a class action on Nov. 5, seeking to represent all U.S. owners of certain Toyota and Lexus models.

Toyota last month said it would recall as many as 3.8 million vehicles including Lexus ES luxury cars, Camry sedans and Prius hybrids over a potential flaw in which floor mats shifting out of position could jam the accelerator pedal. The mats aren’t the problem, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Continue reading "Toyota Lawsuits by Consumers Over Sudden Acceleration of Vehicles" »

The New Jersey judiciary is considering a request from Passaic County judge for mass tort status for suits alleging strokes and other serious health problems from the oral contraceptives Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella.

With 13 suits filed in his court, Assignment Judge Donald Volkert Jr. wrote to Acting Administrative Director of the Courts Glenn Grant on Oct. 22 that "the case management and potential trial of this particular litigation would place a fairly substantial strain on our already limited resources."

There are 26 suits against the contraceptives' manufacturers pending in other counties, and Volkert said plaintiffs lawyers have told him the number could reach 1,000.

In a notice to the bar, the Administrative Office of the Courts says it will accept public comments until Dec. 31 on the proposal to centralize the cases in Atlantic, Bergen or Middlesex counties, where mass torts are heard.

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Yaz Update: Mass Tort Status for Suits Over Yaz, Yasmin" »

Smokers who want to quit and think a good first step is to switch to light or low-tar cigarettes are making a big mistake. A study has found that those smokers instead have about a 50% lower chance of giving up smoking.

The research, published in the November issue of Tobacco Control, analyzed survey data from about 31,000 smokers who were asked whether they had switched to a milder or low-tar brand of cigarettes and the reasons for the switch. They were queried about whether they had tried to give up smoking and if they could currently call themselves nonsmokers. Those who switched brands were 58% more likely to have attempted to give up smoking than those who stayed with one brand but were 60% less likely to successfully quit.

Continue reading "Light Cigarettes may not help Smokers Quit" »

The US food and drug safety watchdog warned that an over-the-counter men's sex aid, labeled as all-natural, contains a chemical similar to the active ingredient in Viagra and could be dangerous.

Stiff Nights, a product marketed as a dietary supplement for sexual enhancement, contains an ingredient that can dangerously lower blood pressure and is illegal," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement. Read the full statement here.

The FDA began probing Stiff Nights after receiving a customer complaint about the product. The agency did not reveal the nature of the complaint.

The investigation found that rather than being all-natural, Stiff Nights contains sulfoaildenafil, a chemical similar to the ingredient in Viagra.

Continue reading " FDA: All-Natural Sex Pill Contains Viagra Chemical" »

Federal investigators reported that imported Chinese drywall that homeowners have linked to health problems and odors had higher levels of some chemicals than its domestic counterparts.

The investigators, however, were unable to link the chemicals, sulfur and strontium, to the health problems and smells in thousands of homes built during the recent housing boom, and said further testing was under way to determine any possible connection.

The preliminary findings are part of a larger study by federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, into complaints from nearly 2,000 homeowners that their recently built homes emit odors and cause nosebleeds and respiratory problems. The owners also say their electrical appliances have failed and their wiring has corroded. It has been estimated that more than 60,000 homes could have the imported drywall. Large amounts of Chinese drywall were imported over the last few years when domestic supplies ran short. An estimated seven million sheets made in China were used as a substitute. Most of the complaints come from Florida, Virginia and Louisiana, where the widespread destruction after hurricanes lead to rapid rebuilding of damaged homes.

Continue reading "CPSC finds Chinese Drywall has High Levels of Sulfur and Strontium." »

Pfizer Inc. must pay about $75 million in punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed cancer after taking one of the drugmaker’s menopause treatments.

A Philadelphia jury ordered Pfizer’s Wyeth unit on Oct. 26 to pay the bad-conduct award, which is about 20 times larger than the $3.7 million in actual damages the panel awarded to Connie Barton over her use of Wyeth’s Prempro menopause drug, according to people with direct knowledge of the verdict.

A judge ordered Barton’s punitive-damage award sealed at Wyeth’s request until the trial of another Prempro lawsuit in the same courthouse is completed. Lawyers in that case say jurors won’t start deliberating on that suit’s claims for another three weeks.

Continue reading "Pfizer Jury to Award $75 M Prempro Verdict to Woman " »

Donna Scroggin had a hormone replacement product liability suit against Wyeth and Upjohn and at the spring 2008 trial her claim that the drug companies failed to warn of the increased risk of breast cancer resulting from their estrogen and progestin products, a federal district court jury awarded the breast cancer survivor $2.75 million in compensatory damages. In the second phase of trial, the jury hit Upjohn with about $8 million in punitive damages, and Wyeth with $19 million.

After post-trial motions, the judge upheld the jury's liability finding and $2.75 million compensatory damages verdict against Wyeth and Upjohn. But he struck the testimony of Scroggin's punitive damages expert and vacated the punitive damages awards against the drug companies.

Read the opinion here.

Continue reading "Wyeth to Face New Trial on Punitive Damages in Prempro Hormone Replacement Case" »

Young children and adolescents who take the newest generation of antipsychotic medications risk rapid weight gain and metabolic changes that could lead to diabetes, hypertension and other illnesses, according to the biggest study yet of first-time users of the drugs.

The study, to be published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 257 young children and adolescents in New York City and on Long Island added 8 to 15 percent to their weight after taking the pills for less than 12 weeks.

Continue reading "Rapid Weight Gain Associated With Antipsychotic Drugs " »

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. said safety warnings were strengthened for their diabetes drug Byetta relating to the risks of pancreatitis and the medicine’s use by patients with severe kidney disease.

Patients with “severe kidney problems” shouldn’t take Byetta and the treatment should be “used with caution” in people who have had a kidney transplant, San Diego-based Amylin and Indianapolis-based Lilly said in a statement. The companies also said U.S. regulators approved the use of the drug as a stand-alone medication for adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Six patients taking Byetta died in August 2008 from pancreatitis, an inflamed pancreas. A safety alert was issued by the Food and Drug Administration though Amylin said no evidence directly linked the drug to the deaths. The revised language reflects the concerns raised by the FDA a year ago, according to Amylin’s medical director.

Continue reading "Amylin, Lilly’s Byetta Gets Stronger Safety Warning " »

A drug designed to fight anemia appears to double the risk of stroke in patients with diabetes and kidney disease without substantially improving their quality of life, a new study finds.

Darbepoetin alfa, marketed as Aranesp and known as an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA), is often prescribed for diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and mild anemia.

"The benefits we assumed we would have by treating anemia were less striking and the risks were more striking," said lead researcher Dr. Marc A. Pfeffer, a professor of medicine in the cardiovascular division of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"This provides new data for doctors and patients to make their own risk-benefit assessment," he said. "There was a perception that treating anemia would make people feel so much better that we'll take risks, but the benefit in quality of life was not as great as we thought, and there was a clear doubling of your risk for a stroke."

Continue reading "Anemia Drug Raises Stroke Risk in Kidney Patients" »

The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said that it had reached a $520 million agreement to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits over the sale and marketing of its blockbuster psychiatric drug Seroquel.

One of the investigations related to “selected physicians who participated in clinical trials involving Seroquel,” AstraZeneca disclosed in a government filing. The other case related to off-label promotion of the drug.

As a result of aggressive marketing, Seroquel has been increasingly used for children and elderly people for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Doctors are permitted to prescribe any approved drug for off-label uses.

Seroquel was the top-selling antipsychotic drug in America. It had $17 billion in sales in the United States since 2004, according to IMS Health, a research firm.

Continue reading "AstraZeneca Pays $520 M to Settle Seroquel Whistle Blower Cases " »

The 3rd District Court of Appeal reversed a $24.2 million verdict Wednesday, striking a Miami-Dade jury award to a Weston, Fla., surgeon who claimed asbestos exposure caused his terminal cancer.

In a unanimous unsigned opinion, the three-judge panel remanded the products liability lawsuit by Dr. Stephen Guilder against Honeywell International and ordered a new trial.

Guilder won one of the highest compensatory damage awards against a single defendant in a mesothelioma case in April 2008. He died before the appeal was decided.

He claimed he developed the rare peritoneal mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos by remodeling an attic, working in road construction and repairing cars in the 1970s and 1980s.

Continue reading "Appeals Court Reverses $24.2 M Verdict in Asbestos Mesothelioma Case" »

A Pfizer Inc. unit must pay an undisclosed amount of punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed breast cancer after taking one of the drugmaker’s menopause treatments, according to a Philadelphia jury.

Jurors deliberated 25 minutes before finding Pfizer’s Wyeth subsidiary was responsible for paying an award to Connie Barton. The specific amount of the award was sealed by the trial judge immediately after it was returned.

Continue reading "Pfizer Unit’s Prempro Punitive Damages Verdict Remains Secret " »

The state’s high court said that cigarette maker Philip Morris USA may have to pay for diagnostic chest exams so smokers can get early warning they have developed lung cancer, possibly opening a new front in tobacco liability lawsuits.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said Massachusetts law has an antiquated definition of negligence. Historically, plaintiffs had to show explicit injury, such as a broken leg, before the other party can be ordered to pay for diagnostic tests.

Writing for the court, Justice Spina said that such legal thinking must change. “We must adapt to the growing recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury, which should be compensable, even if the full effects are not immediately apparent,’’ he wrote.

Continue reading "Philip Morris Has to Fund Medical Monitoring Tests for Smokers" »

Two more lawsuits on behalf of young women injured by the Yaz birth control pill. Yaz, as well as its precursor, Yasmin, have been associated with life-threatening cardiac events in some women, including heart attacks, blood clots and strokes. Both lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Docket Nos. 09-CIV-8931 and 09-CIV-8843).

The Yaz lawsuits were filed on behalf of Judith M. Woodall and Tasha Marcell. The complaints allege that both women sustained severe and permanent personal injuries, pain, suffering, and emotional distress as a result of their use of Yaz. More specifically, according to her lawsuit, Ms. Woodall, a resident of Tennessee, first began using Yaz in approximately November 2008. That same month, she suffered a saddle pulmonary embolus and deep vein thrombosis.

Ms. Marcell, a resident of Georgia, began taking Yaz in October 2007. She also suffered a pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis shortly after she began using the medication.

Continue reading "More Suits Against Bayer Corporation on Behalf of Victims of the Yaz Birth Control Pill" »

A fatal accident in San Diego raises the question: Might a vehicle's complex electronic features make it hard for drivers to react quickly when accelerating out of control?

The 2009 Lexus ES 350 shot through suburban San Diego like a runaway missile, weaving at 120 miles an hour through rush hour freeway traffic as flames flashed from under the car.

At the wheel, veteran California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor desperately tried to control the 272-horsepower engine that was roaring at full throttle as his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law were gripped by fear.

"We’re in trouble. . . . There’s no brakes," Saylor's brother-in-law Chris Lastrella told a police dispatcher over a cellphone. Moments later, frantic shrieks filled the car as it slammed into another vehicle and then careened into a dirt embankment, killing all four aboard.

Continue reading "Toyota's runaway-car worries may not stop at floor mats" »

Candice Atkinson filed a personal injury lawsuit against Bayer Corporation and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for severe side effects from the prescription birth control drug Yaz, manufactured and marketed by Bayer. The complaint was filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, where Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is located.

Candice Atkinson was prescribed Yaz to treat acne skin condition, and the South Carolinian developed life-threatening blood clots and other serious side effects

Continue reading "Nurse Alleges Dangerous Yaz Birth Control Drug "Altered My Life"" »

The chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said she would ask China to help pay for the billions of dollars in damage to U.S. homes blamed on Chinese-made drywall.

"I will find out if any discussions are going on in China about the costs, are they prepared to participate in providing funds, and what would it take for that to occur," CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said ahead of a trip to China next week for a biennial U.S.-China consumer product safety summit.

Continue reading "U.S. to Press China on Drywall Litigation" »

A Philadelphia jury has issued a $13.5 million verdict against Lasko Products Inc., a West Chester fan manufacturer, after a defective fan motor sparked a 2005 house fire in Mount Airy that killed a 7-year-old boy.

The award was issued after a 13-day trial in the death of Joshua Foster, who was killed on June 14, 2005, when a fan in his mother's bedroom triggered a blaze in the home. The child died of burns and smoke inhalation.

The fire was caused by a faulty Chinese-made motor in the portable fan, built in 2000, and the defect in the model was discovered in 1999.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $13.5 M in Product Liability Faulty-Fan Death" »

A lawsuit against a Swiss pharmaceutical company went to trial last week in Missoula, but a verdict in the case could have national significance for hundreds of plaintiffs suing the company in a mass tort.

Peggy L. Stevens of Missoula filed suit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. last year, alleging the company was professionally negligent when it failed to disclose health risks associated with one of its medications.

Stevens, who has lymphoma, developed severe dental and jaw-related problems after taking Zometa, a bone-strengthening medication manufactured by Novartis. Her attorneys say the company knew patients taking Zometa were vulnerable to a degenerative jaw disorder called osteonecrosis, particularly those patients who undergo invasive dental procedures, like root canals or tooth extractions.

Continue reading " Zometa Lawsuit Against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Underway" »

A lawsuit against a Swiss pharmaceutical company went to trial last week in Missoula, but a verdict in the case could have national significance for hundreds of plaintiffs suing the company in a mass tort.

Peggy L. Stevens of Missoula filed suit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. last year, alleging the company was professionally negligent when it failed to disclose health risks associated with one of its medications.

Stevens, who has lymphoma, developed severe dental and jaw-related problems after taking Zometa, a bone-strengthening medication manufactured by Novartis. Her attorneys say the company knew patients taking Zometa were vulnerable to a degenerative jaw disorder called osteonecrosis, particularly those patients who undergo invasive dental procedures, like root canals or tooth extractions.

Continue reading " Zometa Lawsuit Against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Underway" »

The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued its order on October 1, 2009, establishing MDL No. 2100 for individual lawsuits filed by women who have been injured as a result of their ingestion of Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella oral contraceptive products. All of the cases pending in federal courts will be transferred to the Southern District of Illinois. The initial transfer order includes 32 cases that have been filed by patients in California, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin.

All of the cases involve allegations that the popular birth control pills containing the new progestin drospirenone increase the risk of serious life-threatening health problems, such as heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms, deep vein thrombosis, gallbladder disease and sudden death from Yaz or Yasmin.

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Yaz Lawsuits and Side Effects" »

In the first Paxil birth defect case to go to trial, jurors heard testimony late last month that manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was aware of reports of birth defects from mothers who took the antidepressant while pregnant but withheld the information from the FDA and consumers. (Kilker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., No. 070201813 (Pa., Philadelphia Co. Com. Pleas filed Feb. 20, 2007).).

In his opening statement, Sean Patrick Tracey of Houston told the jurors that they would see internal GSK documents that would show the company had reports of Paxil-related congenital abnormalities that go back to the drug’s entry into the market in 1993. These were documents previously under seal that “the FDA hasn’t seen, the United States Congress hasn’t seen, and that no jury has ever laid their eyes on before,” he said.

Tracey said one of the documents would show that a GSK official discussed “burying” negative studies linking Paxil to birth defects. Another would show that GSK told officials to avoid disclosing the risks. “GSK said if there is any doubt, take it out,” he told the jury.

Continue reading "GlaxoSmithKline Buried Paxil Birth Defect Reports, Jury told " »

The first of more than 600 lawsuits claiming the makers of the antidepressant Paxil hid evidence that its drug caused birth defects in order to boost profits is now waiting for a Philadelphia jury's verdict.

The lawsuit involves allegations from Michelle David, who claims drug maker GlaxoSmithKline concealed negative study results linking Paxil to a life-threatening heart malformation in newborns of women who took the drug during pregnancy. The company marketed Paxil for treating pregnant women with anxiety, despite knowing about the apparent connection to birth defects, David contends.

David took Paxil while pregnant with her son, Lyam Kilker, who was born with life-threatening heart defects. The boy is now four and has fully recovered after being hospitalized as a newborn and undergoing multiple surgeries to repair his heart.

Glaxo’s lawyers argued during the trial that there is not sufficient evidence to prove that use of Paxil caused Lyam’s birth defects.

Continue reading "Paxil Birth Defects Trial Now Waiting for Jury’s Verdict" »

Yaz, manufactured by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a combination birth control pill containing drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol. Yaz is marketed not only as a contraceptive pill, but as a proven treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a condition with severe emotional and physical premenstrual symptoms. Yaz also is marketed as an effective treatment for moderate acne.

The YAZ birth control pill, manufactured and marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals has been linked to a number of serious, life-threatening side effects.

There is a limited period of time in which to bring a Texas Yaz lawsuit. This time period is referred to as a “statute of limitations”. If Yaz lawsuits are not filed before the statutory deadline you may lose the right to bring a claim for compensation.

A statute of limitations is a law that limits the amount of time a person has to file a lawsuit. There are several factors that affect the statutory deadline for filing your Yaz lawsuit. Some of these factors include:

The state where the injury occurred, the type of injury, the state where the lawsuit is filed, the age of the person bringing the lawsuit, whether the claim is a wrongful death lawsuit.

Continue reading "Statute of Limitations for Texas Yaz Product Liability Lawsuits" »

The Ivory family's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed.

Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding that insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall.

Continue reading "Home Insurers Discontinuing Chinese Drywall Policies" »

A panel of judges ordered that all federal lawsuits over problems with Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills will be consolidated into an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, for pretrial proceedings in the Southern District of Illinois.

This is not a Yaz / Yasmin class action. Each Yaz lawsuit or Yasmin lawsuit will remain an individual claim and if a settlement is not agreed upon during pretrial litigation, each plaintiff will still have a jury will determine the amount of damages they are entitled to in their case.

Read the JPML Order here.

MDL No. 2100 -- IN RE: Yasmin and Yaz (Drospirenone) Marketing and Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation -- Assigned To Southern District of Illinois.

Continue reading "Yaz / Yasmin MDL Consolidation Update" »

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 a pulmonary embolism.

According to the head of the emergency room that treated Ms. Hayes, her death was the result of “blood clotting caused by factors related to taking the oral contraceptive pill.”

What her family did not discover until later is that the fine print on the package of pills she was taking, known as Yasmin, lists “breathlessness” as a "very rare . . . very serious side effect.”

Continue reading "Deaths Linked To Yaz and Yasmin Birth Control Pill" »

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 doctors and pregnant users of Paxil’s risk. The panel awarded $2.5 million in compensatory damages to the family of Lyam Kilker. The 3-year-old was born with heart defects his mother blamed on the drug.

Continue reading "Glaxo Ordered to Pay $2.5 M for Paxil Birth Defect Lawsuit " »

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 effort” not to study Paxil’s links to birth defects, Tracey said. Glaxo executives sought to “avoid doing studies that would have revealed the truth about their drugs,” he said.

The trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those risks to increase profits.

The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from consumers and regulators about Paxil’s risks and failed to properly test the drug. Lyam’s mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing her son’s life-threatening heart defects.

Continue reading "Glaxo Ignored Paxil’s Birth-Defect Risks, According to Lawyer" »

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 problems with Yaz and Yasmin.

The Yaz / Yasmin lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the Philadelphia Firefighters Union Local No. 22 Health and Welfare Fund, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, District Council 47 Health and Welfare Fund. The funds accuse Bayer of unlawfully promoting Yaz to mislead investors about the value of the company, concealing the drug’s increased risks of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, gallbladder disease, pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Continue reading "Yasmin and Yaz Side Effects Were Concealed to Boost Sales" »

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 of metal indoors corroded or turned black.

Mr. Morgan moved out. The headaches and nosebleeds stopped, but the ensuing financial problems pushed him into personal bankruptcy.

Mr. Morgan, like many other American homebuyers who tell similar tales of woe, is blaming the drywall in his new home — specifically, drywall from China, imported during the housing boom to meet heavy demand — that he says is contaminated with various sulfur compounds.

Continue reading "Chinese Drywall Personal Injury Cases Continue to Increase" »

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 defects, Judith Jones testified as an expert witness for the company. Jones spent eight years in the FDA’s post- marketing surveillance and drug safety group.

“The FDA was provided all of the reports that GlaxoSmithKline had received on a regular basis and they specifically did not identify a signal,” Jones told jurors in state court. “They provided all the necessary information to the FDA.”

Jones testified toward the end of the first trial over claims Paxil causes birth defects. Michelle David blames her Paxil use for her 3-year-old son’s life-threatening heart defects. She accuses the company of withholding information from consumers and regulators about the risk of birth defects and failing to properly test Paxil.

Continue reading "Glaxo Claims to Have Complied With FDA Rules on Paxil" »

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 the risk of prostate cancer.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, comes on the heels of several multimillion-dollar settlements that Bayer has paid out to resolve claims about misleading advertising. This year, Bayer agreed to run a $20 million corrective advertising campaign about its birth control pill Yaz.

In 2007, it paid a $3.2 million fine over weight loss claims involving its One A Day vitamin as part of a consent decree reached with the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice and another $8 million to resolve allegations, raised by state attorneys general, that it hid safety issues surrounding its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol.

Continue reading "Bayer Sued Over Health Claims About Multivitamin for Men" »

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 Blankenship.

Discharged to his mother's home the day of the March 9 tooth extraction, Blankenship was found dead in his bed the following morning. According to a civil suit filed earlier this month in King County Superior Court, a medical examiner found Blankenship had died from a drug overdose caused by the fentanyl patch.

Continue reading "Teen's Fatal Overdose Blamed on Fentanyl Patch" »

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, two health and welfare funds for firefighters and city employees said in a federal court complaint made public today in Philadelphia.

The Yasmin family of birth control pills, known as Yaz, Yasmin and Yasminelle, were Bayer’s top-selling drugs last year, bringing in about $1.8 billion, a 17 percent increase over 2007.

Continue reading "Bayer Sued, Accused of Hiding Yaz Risk to Boost Sales " »

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 clots.

Yaz and Yasmin use both estrogens and progestins to prevent ovulation. Estimates are that at baseline about 1 women in 10,000 will have a blood clot this year; that number increases to about 3 women in 10,000 if they are taking BCPs.

Also the fact is that more than 50 women in 10,000 will get a blood clot due to pregnancy.

Continue reading "Yaz and Yasmin: Get the Medical Facts " »

Several lawsuits filed on behalf of women who were injured or killed by the popular birth control drugs Yaz and Yasmin will be consolidated into a multidistrict litigation group in the Southern District of Illinois, a federal judicial panel has ruled.

A total of 32 federal lawsuits have been filed against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of Yaz and Yasmin. The two contraceptives use different doses of the same hormone, drospirenone, which has been linked to increased levels of potassium in the blood and many user deaths and serious injuries.

From 2004 to 2008, there were at least 50 deaths in the United States associated with the use of Yaz, the Food and Drug Administration has said. Women taking the drug have reported suffering heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and other types of blood clotting, and gallbladder disease.

Continue reading "Yaz/Yasmin Product Liability And Injury Lawsuits to be Consolidated in Illinois" »

The Supreme Court of New Jersey backed a $4.5 million award to the widow of a man who suffered heart problems after using Merck's painkiller Vioxx, ending of the last unresolved lawsuits related to the drug.

The court dismissed Merck's appeal and upheld the award in the case McDarby v. Merck, according to the law firm Weitz & Luxenberg. The firm said the ruling was issued on May 7. A jury found that Merck and Co. failed to warn patient John McDarby about Vioxx's cardiac risks, which later caused the drug to be taken off the market.

Continue reading "NJ Court Upholds $4.5M Judgment in Vioxx Case" »

Asbestos lawsuits are filed by plaintiffs who have suffered as the result of asbestos-related illness. Plaintiffs in asbestos lawsuits can include the victims of asbestos exposure, or their families or loved ones. Defendants against asbestos lawsuits are those parties considered responsible for the asbestos exposure. In the past, targets of asbestos lawsuits have included:

* Employers
* Asbestos manufacturers
* Asbestos installers
* Landlords
* Leasing agents

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Asbestos Lawsuits" »

A new Yaz lawsuit was filed this week against Bayer Pharmaceuticals by a woman who alleges the popular birth control pill caused her to suffer pulmonary emboli and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), leaving her with permanent injuries.

Anna Butler of Kansas filed the product liability lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which is at least the 75th federal lawsuit over Yaz or Yasmin oral contraceptives.

Continue reading "Yaz Lawsuit Alleges Pulmonary Emboli and DVT from Birth Control Pill" »

Wyeth’s hormone-replacement therapy drug Prempro caused an Illinois woman’s invasive breast cancer and she deserves $3.7 million, a jury decided in Philadelphia, without yet deciding whether the company was at fault and should pay her.

Jurors deliberated about two hours and 15 minutes before concluding that Wyeth’s drug was a proximate cause of Connie Barton’s breast cancer. Barton, 64, was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, five years after she began taking Prempro to treat menopausal symptoms.

Continue reading "Jury Decides Wyeth’s Prempro Caused Woman’s Cancer " »

The bankruptcy court judge overseeing certain Chrysler assets has approved a $24 million settlement in the death of a California longshoreman run over by a Dodge pickup.

The settlement comes more than two years after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded damages of more than $55 million to the family of Richard Mraz. The family argued the automaker had failed to fix and adequately warn consumers about a transmission defect that made it appear trucks were in park position, when they actually were between gears.

Continue reading "Court Approves $24 M Wrongful Death Settlement Involving Chrysler Pickup" »

Women taking Yaz as a form of birth control or to treat other conditions have suffered devastating gallbladder disease, in addition to increased risks of heart attacks, stroke, and blood clots.

In some cases, Yaz users have been forced to undergo painful surgeries to remove their gallbladder due to the formation of gallstones and other complications.

Continue reading "Yaz Yasmin Users Can Develop Serious Gallbladder Disease" »

YAZ (3 mg drospirenone/20 mcg ethinyl estradiol) is an oral contraceptive (OC) which is the first pill to combine 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol (EE) with the so-called "fourth generation" progestin drospirenone (DRSP). YAZ was approved by the FDA in March 2006.

A study called the International Active Surveillance Study of Women Taking Oral Contraceptives (INAS-OC), which was started in August 2005 and continues to date, is intended to evaluate the risk of those cardiovascular side effects for women who use DRSP/EE birth control pills like YAZ.

The study was funded with an unrestricted grant from Bayer Schering Pharma AG. Dr. Dinger has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Continue reading "Birth Control Pill YAZ Is Subject Of Ongoing Safety Study " »

A new study has found that the type of progestin used in the Yaz birth control pill is associated with more blood clots than other forms of the hormone. The study is published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Lawsuits have been filed around the U.S. by women who say they suffered serious side effects from Yaz.. The women involved in these lawsuits claim they experienced serious blood clots, including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, as well as strokes. Yaz has also allegedly been associated with heart attacks and deaths in young women

Continue reading "Dutch Study Reports Yaz DSRP Ingredient Increases Blood Clot Risk" »

If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study.

However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants - known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - do not have such defects, the researchers are quick to note.

Continue reading "Prozac and Antidepressants in Pregnancy Increases Heart Defect Risk" »

The Institute of Medicine will study a U.S. Food and Drug administration program that gives fast-track approval to certain medical devices.

Consumer watchdog groups, lawmakers and others have criticized the FDA for using the accelerated approval process for more products than Congress originally intended, leading to problems with devices after they are sold.

Expedited reviews of devices shown to be similar to existing products allow companies to get products to market more quickly and with less expense.

The study of the program by the institute, part of the National Academies, was required by a 2007 law, but the FDA said on Wednesday that the results would not come until March of 2011.

Continue reading "FDA Seeks Outside Review of Medical Device Approvals" »

Merck & Co. is paying claims by the families of more than 3,100 users of its Vioxx painkiller who died of heart attacks or strokes blamed on the drug, according to a law firm administering a $4.85 billion settlement fund.

The fund will pay about 3,000 claims for heart attack deaths and at least 122 strokes, according to BrownGreer LLP, a claims administrator appointed by both sides. Merck introduced Vioxx in 1999 and withdrew it in 2004 when a study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Merck set up the fund, which covers claims of death and lesser injuries, in 2007 after reserving $1.9 billion to fight 26,600 Vioxx suits.

Continue reading "Merck Paying More Than 3,100 Death Claims in Vioxx Settlement " »

New studies point to an increased risk of Paxil birth defects in babies whose mothers use the antidepressant during pregnancy.

According to the findings of two studies, women who were taking Paxil during their first trimester were one and a half to two times more likely to have a baby with a heart defect than women who were taking other antidepressants or women of the general population.

A later study found that women who took Paxil at 20 weeks or later were six times more likely to have a baby with a rare birth defect known as persistent pulmonary hypertension, or PPHN.

Continue reading "Paxil and Heart and Lung Birth Defects" »

Bayer AG, Germany’s largest drugmaker, said its Yaz contraceptive is part of an investigation by a Swiss health regulator into the death of a young woman who took the pill.

The Swissmedic agency and an investigative judge are looking into the case of the woman, who died from the effects of pulmonary embolism, Bayer’s Swiss health unit said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday. Bayer is cooperating with the authorities, the company said.

Continue reading "Bayer Yaz Death Probed By Swiss Agency" »

As Reported in the NY Times. Read the full article here.
The oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin are the top-selling pharmaceutical line for Bayer HealthCare, largely as a result of marketing that presents them as much more than mere pregnancy prevention.

Yaz, in particular, the top-selling birth control pill in the United States, owes much of its popularity to multimillion-dollar ad campaigns that have promoted the drug as a quality-of-life treatment to combat acne and severe premenstrual depression.

Continue reading "Bayer and Lawsuits Involving Yaz and Yasmin" »

In 2003, GSK initiated a retrospective analysis of women, dating back to 1995, who had taken antidepressants in the first trimester of their pregnancies and had given birth to children with major congenital malformations. The study found an association between Paxil and congenital malformations in mothers taking Paxil in the first trimester.

Another study conducted by researchers in Denmark and published in Pharmacoepidemology and Drug Safety in 2005 showed a more than 2-fold increase for congenital malformations in women taking Paxil compared to other antidepressants.

In September 2005, GSK sent out a "Dear Doctor" letter informing physicians throughout the United States that the results of its analysis showed a higher rate of "congenital malformations associated with the use of Paxil as compared to other antidepressants" in infants born to women taking antidepressants during the first trimester of pregnancy.

The FDA has issued three Public Health Advisories since December 2005 concerning the risk of congenital heart defects and has changed Paxil’s pregnancy category from C to D, which indicates that "[t]here is positive evidence of fetal risk."

Continue reading "Update: Paxil Heart Birth Defects and PPHN Lawsuits" »

Switzerland's medicines supervisor has said it will investigate allegations an oral contraceptive contributed to a fatal lung embolism in a woman.

The embolism occurred ten months after the woman starting taking Yaz birth control pills produced by German firm Bayer. She died in mid-September. Swissmedic announced on Friday it would look into suspicions of a possible link.

Bayer could not comment on the case but said it would take any possible link seriously. It expressed sympathy with the woman's family, saying her death was tragic regardless of whether there was a connection to its contraceptive pill.

Continue reading "Yaz Birth Control Link to Embolism Investigated" »

When he began getting weak, 61-year-old Ronald Beaver figured he might just be feeling his age. Eventually his problem was traced to a serious blood disorder caused by low levels of copper.

It wasn't until several weeks later — after the man from Tamarac, Fla., started getting daily doses of copper — that Beaver's doctor mentioned that getting too much zinc can trigger loss of copper.

The only source of that much zinc they surmised was the tubes of PoliGrip denture cream he had been overusing for a decade.

Continue reading "Overuse of Denture Cream with Zinc Leads to Lawsuits" »

An AstraZeneca Plc saleswoman told a U.S. doctor the antipsychotic Seroquel didn’t cause diabetes almost four years after the company warned Japanese physicians about the drug’s links to the disease, internal documents show.

Nancy White, the saleswoman, and a colleague met with an unidentified doctor in July 2006 who reported “getting a lot of flak” from patients about Seroquel’s diabetes links, according to a note unsealed as part of a lawsuit.

AstraZeneca wrote in November 2002 to Japanese doctors that it received a dozen reports of diabetes-related cases tied to Seroquel “where causality with the drug could not be ruled out.”

Continue reading "AstraZeneca Denied Seroquel’s Diabetes Link Years After Warning " »

Yasmin (also known as Yaz/drospirenone/ethinyl Estradiol. Generic : Ocella) is a birth control pill developed and manufactured by Bayer, AG. The medicine works by disrupting a woman's natural menstrual cycle and providing a daily dose of hormones to regulate a new menstrual cycle.

Bayer AG has been involved in a few discussions with the Food and Drug Administration over questionable advertising campaigns seeming to suggest that Yasmin/Yaz has less side effects than other contraceptive medications.

Recent reports indicate that dangerous side effects could occur in women with preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity.

Continue reading "Texas Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella Birth Control Lawsuit Update" »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s scientists were alarmed by a rising number of birth defects among pregnant women taking the antidepressant Paxil in 1997, according to internal documents revealed in a trial in Philadelphia.

There was a 13.3 percent rate of incidence for congenital abnormalities as of November 1997, according to the documents presented by lawyers for the family of an injured child suing the company.

“Taken at face value this presents an alarming finding,” according to the internal report. That language was later deleted, the documents show. The information was never submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, former FDA doctor Suzanne Parisian told jurors Sept. 18.

Continue reading "Paxil-Linked Birth Defects Alarmed Glaxo in 1997 " »

Doctors should prescribe the birth- control pills that are the least likely to cause blood clots, according to a study of more than 3,000 women published in the British Medical Journal.

Oral contraceptives containing levonorgestrel and a low dose of estrogen, such as Bayer AG’s Microgynon 30, were associated with the lowest risk of blood clots in the leg or lungs, researchers at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands found. Birth-control pills containing desogestrel, cyproterone acetate or drospirenone carried about 1.5 to 2 times the risk of clots, they found.

Continue reading "Women Should Take Safest Birth-Control Pill" »

Forty years ago, on September 4, 1969, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared the new birth control pill to be “safe” for use by women to regulate births.

Forty years later, the true safety of oral contraception is still in question.

Continue reading "Oral Contraceptives History and Facts" »

Judge Sandra Mazer Moss, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, consolidated all lawsuits filed in Philadelphia that involve Bayer's popular birth control pills, commonly known as Yaz, and Yasmin. Philadelphia is likely to be the country's center for state court litigation involving this widely used birth control pill.

The lawsuits allege that Yaz and Yasmin have risks beyond those of traditional birth control pills, because they contain DRSP (drospirenone), and that Bayer over-promoted the drug without disclosing risks. Bayer was warned by the FDA, in the fall of 2008, that Bayer's television ads were misleading and were not disclosing these additional risks.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania to be Center of State Court Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella Birth Control Litigation" »

- Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, said a consultant to plaintiffs’ attorneys in lawsuits over its epilepsy drug Neurontin tried to tamper with a prospective witness.

Dr. David Egilman, a Brown University medical professor, “improperly contacted” the treating physician of a Massachusetts man whose family claims he killed himself after taking the drug, Pfizer said in a court filing. Pfizer asked the judge to punish Egilman for sending a sealed document to the doctor. Pfizer faces a trial in this case, brought by the family of Hartley Shearer, in March.

Egilman’s letter to Shearer’s doctor was “a transparent attempt to taint her perceptions of Pfizer shortly before her deposition,” Pfizer said. Egilman enclosed “a confidential internal e-mail between Pfizer employees,” along with other documents, in his letter to Dr. Lisa Catapano-Friedman, the company said.

Continue reading "Pfizer Says Lawsuit Consultant Tried to Sway Witness" »

Officials of GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, said in 2001 that a birth defect in the fetus of a woman taking its Paxil antidepressant likely was linked to the drug, according to court testimony.

After analyzing a 2001 e-mail from a Paxil user who aborted her fetus because it had a heart defect, Glaxo officials noted in company files they were “almost certain” the drug was related to the problem, Jane Nieman, a former Glaxo drug-safety executive, told a Pennsylvania jury.

Continue reading "Glaxo Linked Birth Defect of Fetus to Paxil " »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker, begins a trial in Philadelphia in what may be a test case for more than 600 lawsuits over claims its antidepressant drug Paxil causes birth defects.

Patients and their parents claim internal company documents produced for trial show Glaxo failed to warn about the risks of Paxil until forced to do so in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In a trial set for Sept. 14, Michelle David blames the drug for causing life-threatening heart defects in her son Lyam Kilker, 3.

Continue reading "GlaxoSmithKline to Defend Paxil in Birth-Defect Case " »

Makers of injected promethazine, a sedative also used to treat nausea and vomiting, are being required to put the strongest warning possible on the product because it can cause tissue damage leading to amputation, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

The drug, previously sold by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. under the brand name Phenergan, was at the heart of a U.S. Supreme Court case this spring that ended in a ruling that consumers harmed by a medication approved by the FDA still have the right to sue the manufacturer.

Wyeth had appealed the case up to the Supreme Court after a Vermont woman named Diana Levine, who once played the guitar and piano professionally, sued because she had to have her right arm amputated after being injected with Phenergan. Levine's lawsuit, which claimed she wasn't sufficiently warned of the risks of using Phenergan, won her a $6.7 million jury award.

Continue reading "FDA Requires Strong Amputation Warning on Promethazine" »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker, withheld birth-defect data tied to its antidepressant drug Paxil from physicians as the number of reports grew, a psychiatrist testified.

Doctors seeking information about birth defects linked to Paxil originally got the total numbers of side-effect reports about the issue from Glaxo, Dr. David Healy, a professor at Cardiff University in Wales, told a Pennsylvania jury today. He’s testifying on behalf of a family suing over a child born with heart defects allegedly caused by the drug.

Continue reading "Glaxo Withheld Paxil Birth-Defect Data, Witness Says" »

An executive of GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker, talked about burying negative studies linking its antidepressant drug Paxil to birth defects, according to a company memo introduced at a trial.

“If neg, results can bury,” Glaxo executive Bonnie Rossello wrote in a 1997 memo on what the company would do if forced to conduct animal studies on the drug. The memo was read during opening statements in the trial of a lawsuit brought by the family of a child born with heart defects.

Continue reading "Glaxo Executive’s Memo Suggested Burying Drug Studies " »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s e-mail with researchers studying birth defects allegedly caused by the drugmaker’s antidepressant Paxil must be turned over to a family suing over the drug.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston refused to block William Seale’s family from reviewing e-mails and other communications between Glaxo and Boston University researchers over Paxil’s birth-defect risks.

The 1-year-old, whose pregnant mother took the antidepressant, died in 2004 after three surgeries to address heart defects, according to court filings.

Continue reading "Glaxo E-Mails Over Paxil Study Must Be Turned Over" »

U.S. health regulators have warned drugmaker Bayer over quality control issues at a plant that makes the key ingredient in Yaz and other popular birth control drugs.

In a warning letter posted online Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration said its inspectors uncovered testing problems at the company's plant in Berghamen, Germany, during a March visit.

FDA inspectors said the company measured the quality of its drug ingredients based on an average of several samples, instead of reporting individual tests results.

Continue reading "FDA Warns Bayer Maker of Yaz and Yasmin" »

A lawsuit alleging that Merck & Co's osteoporosis drug Fosamax caused jaw damage ended in a mistrial on Friday .

U.S. District Judge John Keenan declared the mistrial two days giving the New York jury considering the case a "cooling off period" in light of supposed acrimony among jurors.

A Merck lawyer on Wednesday referred to an "unsubstantiated claim" of a chair being thrown in the jury room.

Merck faces lawsuits involving almost 900 cases by patients who say the use of Fosamax causes osteonecrosis of the jaw, or the death of jawbone tissue. The trial is Merck's first over the drug

Continue reading "Merck Lawsuit Over Fosamax ends in Mistrial" »

The Kugel Mesh Patch, a medical device that was commonly used in surgeries to repair hernias, was recalled in 2005, 2006, and again in 2007 after patients suffered painful bowel perforations and other chronic injuries. The patch, placed inside the body following hernia-repair surgery to prevent tearing or the formation of scar tissue, had a tendency to break or move around inside the body, causing tears between the intestines and other digestie organs, such as the bladder and rectum.

The Kugel Mesh Patch injuries were caused when the “memory recoil ring,” which opened the oval patch so it could lay flat after it was inserted into the body through a narrow incision, broke.

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Relatives of a Texas musician who died in 2007 after acting bizarrely while taking the smoking-cessation drug Chantix have filed a lawsuit against the drug’s maker, Pfizer, accusing the company of failing to warn of suicidal thoughts and other dangerous psychiatric side effects associated with the medication.

The death of Carter Albrecht on September 3, 2007 became an example of reports of dangerous complications seen in people taking Chantix. Albrecht, a well-known Dallas musician and member of Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, was fatally shot by a neighbor after the guitarist started banging on the windows of the neighbor’s house in the middle of the night.

Albrecht’s family claimed the strange and violent behavior was totally out of character for Albrecht and blamed his condition on Chantix, which caused severe hallucinations, vivid nightmares, and violent, unpredictable behavior.

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While riding his bicycle, Scott Warren says he was thrown over the handlebars and onto the pavement when the pedal suddenly broke.

Warren filed a product liability lawsuit against Pacific Cycle, Dorel Industries Inc, Catic Bicycle Co., and Whole Man Enterprise Co. on Dec. 15, 2008, in the 366th judicial district of Collin County. The defendants removed the case to the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas on Sept. 2.

Warren was riding a Mongoose Placid bicycle that he purchased in November 2005.

He argues that the defendants were negligent in failing to design the bicycle so that the pedal crank would not break and negligent in the manufacture of the bicycle. Further, the plaintiff claims the defendants were negligent for not warning that the pedal might suddenly and unexpectedly break.

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Merck & Co. lost a legal bid to dismiss 24 lawsuits claiming its osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes ‘jaw death’ in patients who took the medicine for fewer than three years.

U.S. District Judge John Keenan in New York, in a ruling released today refused to dismiss the lawsuits, saying that whether there is a three- year threshold is a “genuine issue of fact for trial.” The plaintiffs claim Fosamax causes osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ.

“This simply reflects what’s been known in the science for a while now, that there is no magic window where a patient can be automatically said to be safe from developing ONJ after beginning Fosamax,” Tim O’Brien, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said of Keenan’s ruling.

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Chinese drywall could become the new asbestos - a building substance that's the target of a growing number of lawsuits.

About 150 lawsuits already have been filed over Chinese drywall, including about a dozen in Mississippi, and the number is growing almost daily, based upon federal court records. The cases will be consolidated into a class-action lawsuit in federal court in New Orleans.

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A U.S. judge said he would declare a mistrial in a case against Merck & Co over its Fosamax osteoporosis drug if a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict by the end of business on Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge John Keenan in New York was responding to a motion for mistrial on Wednesday by a lawyer for a Florida woman who sued the drug company, claiming Fosamax caused damage to her jaw.

Lawyer Timothy O'Brien, representing 71-year-old Shirley Boles of Walton Beach, Florida, told the court that notes from one woman juror indicated she felt intimidated or threatened.

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The YAZ birth control pill, manufactured and marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals has been linked to a number of serious, life-threatening side effects. Yaz, which is nearly identical to Yasmin birth control, is a newer type of oral contraceptive sold by Bayer. It has been aggressively marketed without adequate warnings about potentially life-threatening side effects.

Yaz, a birth control pill linked to blood clots, heart attacks and strokes, has been the subject of a misleading marketing campaign.

Deceptive Yaz commercials prompted the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to issue Bayer a warning letter, and the company was forced to correct its false advertising.

Bayer's Yaz campaign not only made false claims about the benefits of the drug, it also downplayed the serious side effects - including life-threatening blood clots - known to be associated with Yaz. Because of Bayer's false advertising, millions of women took Yaz without being fully aware of the drug's health risks.

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The hearing on the Petition to consolidate the Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella product liability litigation in the Northern District of Ohio has been set for September 24, 2009 in Richmond, Virginia.

The hearing will be held before the Judicial Panel on Multi -District Litigation. If the case is consolidated as an "MDL" case it will be sent to a single judge for case management purposes. For a detailed explanation of the workings and purpose of an MDL you may go to our earlier blog article.

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