Product Liability

October 3, 2009

NJ Court Upholds $4.5M Judgment in Vioxx Case

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.

October 1, 2009

Dallas Texas Asbestos Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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

October 1, 2009

Yaz Lawsuit Alleges Pulmonary Emboli and DVT from Birth Control Pill

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

September 30, 2009

Jury Decides Wyeth’s Prempro Caused Woman’s Cancer

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

September 29, 2009

Court Approves $24 M Wrongful Death Settlement Involving Chrysler Pickup

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

September 28, 2009

Yaz Yasmin Users Can Develop Serious Gallbladder Disease

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

September 28, 2009

Birth Control Pill YAZ Is Subject Of Ongoing Safety Study

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

September 28, 2009

Dutch Study Reports Yaz DSRP Ingredient Increases Blood Clot Risk

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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

September 28, 2009

Prozac and Antidepressants in Pregnancy Increases Heart Defect Risk

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

September 28, 2009

FDA Seeks Outside Review of Medical Device Approvals

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.