We reported on Byetta (exenatide) in August 2008, when the FDA issued a MedWatch email alert about six new cases of hemorrhagic pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis that had been reported to FDA since an October 2007 “Dear Doctor” letter about Byetta and acute pancreatitis was sent to doctors in the…
An Oakland musician who was made a quadriplegic in a rollover crash four years ago won an $18.3 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. in federal court. Dax Pierson, 38, suffered severe spinal injuries when a Ford passenger van that the band was traveling in ran off an icy highway…
Two class action lawsuits have been filed in the wake of the recall of Hydroxycut, a popular weight-loss supplement that has been linked to liver damage and other life-threatening side effects. The suits, filed in Canada and Tennessee, accuse Iovate Health Sciences, which manufactures Hydroxycut, of failing to warn of…
A Los Angeles judge has ordered automaker Jaguar Land Rover to pay $21.1 million to a Simi Valley man who was paralyzed in 2003 when his Land Rover Discovery sport utility vehicle rolled over several times after a collision on the 118 Freeway. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Robert H.…
GlaxoSmithKline, maker of Avandia, faces more lawsuits alleging that patients suffered from serious Avandia side effects. Among the more severe side effects is the reported link between Avandia and heart attacks. Some critics say the risk of a heart problem is too high, while patients file lawsuits alleging they were…
A 63-year-old Tyler woman who sued Nissan after she was seriously injured in a 2006 car accident has been awarded $2.19 million by a federal jury. Rebecca Perdue filed a lawsuit against Nissan Motor Co., LTD, claiming her 1995 Nissan Pathfinder failed to protect her during a Nov. 28, 2006…
Federal drug regulators warned consumers to stop using the popular Hydroxycut line of weight-loss products, citing reports of a death due to liver failure and other instances of serious health problems. In all, the Food and Drug Administration said it had received 23 reports of significant adverse health effects in…
Just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court decided patients can sue drugmakers over injuries from medicines approved by the government, long-stalled lawsuits against GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. are again moving toward trials. The March 4 decision in a case on Wyeth’s nausea treatment Phenergan broke a logjam…
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for a suit by a New Jersey woman who claims to have suffered mercury poisoning from Chicken of the Sea canned tuna. The denial of certiorari sets the stage for a federal court trial in Newark, N.J., in a putative class action suit,…
A woman who said she developed ulcerative colitis from taking Accutane was awarded $10.5 million by a New Jersey jury. It was the third of 425 lawsuits alleging that Accutane caused inflammatory bowel disease in some users to go to trial. All three cases have resulted in multi-million dollar judgments…