Taking on corporate giants can feel like tilting at windmills, but John Kopchinski’s six-year legal battle against Pfizer Inc just made him a rich man. The Gulf War veteran and former Pfizer sales representative will earn more than $51.5 million as a result of his whistleblower lawsuit against the world’s…
Pfizer Inc agreed to plead guilty to a U.S. criminal charge relating to promotion of its now-withdrawn Bextra pain medicine and will pay a record $2.3 billion to settle allegations it improperly marketed 13 medicines. The world’s biggest drugmaker was slapped with the huge fines by the U.S. government after…
At least 50 federal and state lawsuits have been filed against Bayer due to serous side effects associated with Yasmin / Yaz. Both the drugs are oral contraceptives that contain synthetic versions of the hormones estrogen and progestin, and are associated with side effects including stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism,…
Asbestos is well recognized as a health hazard and is highly regulated. An estimated 1.3 million employees in the construction and general industry face significant asbestos exposure on the job. Heaviest exposures occur in the construction industry, particularly during the removal of asbestos during renovation or demolition. Employees are also…
A federal court has granted summary judgment to the defendant. Kilpatrick v. Breg, Inc., No. 4:08-cv-10052 (S.D. Fla. 6/26/09), in what appears to be the first substantive decision to come out of the multiple suits alleging that a pain pump medical device damages patients. Judge Michael Moore ruled in favor…
One of the more recent contraceptive pills to come out on the market and which became quite popular very quickly was the Yaz pill which is manufactured by Bayer. Yaz claimed that it could treat moderate acne and that it would treat the symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder. However, Yaz…
As a general rule, all hormonal birth control medications are associated with side effects and health risks, and the oral contraceptive pills YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella are no exception. Blood clots can cause serious side effects; stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism, and deep vein thrombosis. A blood clot, or thrombosis,…
Yamaha Motor Co., the world’s second-largest motorcycle maker, is not liable for damages to the family of a Texas teenager who died while driving the company’s Rhino all-terrain vehicle. Jurors in state court in Orange, Texas, deliberated about two hours before ruling the vehicle wasn’t to blame for the death…
Since the Chantix black box warning was announced earlier in July 2009, the focus has been on the increased risk of suicides. Pfizer also quietly added new information to the warning label about reports of serious skin reactions, such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, referred to as SJS, is a…
Johnson & Johnson warned doctors of reports of a deadly skin reaction and liver failure tied to its HIV medicine Intelence. The skin condition called toxic epidermal necrolysis has killed one patient and injured another since Intelence was approved in January 2008. Another patient taking the tablets reported a hypersensitivity…