Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

According to the jury in a recent Washingston state trial, Intuitive Surgical Inc., the manufacturer of the da Vinci Robotic surgical device systems wasn’t negligent in a wrongful death claim. The family of the plaintiff filed a lawsuit alleging that the company was negligent in its training of a doctor who performed the robot-assisted surgery on a patient who died.

Jurors in Port Orchard, Washington, reached their verdict after a five-week trial. The case was the first to go to trial of at least 26 lawsuits against Intuitive alleging injuries from its da Vinci robotic system, which was used in more than 300,000 U.S. operations last year.

Da Vinci Robot Cash Cow

As a Texas IUD Attorney and Medical Doctor, I am providing this update regarding the risk of perforation and injuries associated with the Mirena IUD. The FDA has received more than 47,000 reports of injuries and complications associated with the Mirena intrauterine device (IUD).

Most of the Mirena IUD problems reported to the FDA involved the birth control device being discharged from women, migrating to different locations or causing vaginal bleeding according to the analysis.

Thousands of Mirena Adverse Side Effects

Recently a South Carolina woman filed a product liability lawsuit against Pfizer, claiming that the cholesterol drug Lipitor side effect caused her to develop diabetes. The federal lawsuit was filed by Margaret Clark in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Clark alleges that Pfizer has failed to adequately warn about the diabetes risk from Lipitor. Pfizer updated the label in 2012 at the request of the FDA.

Clark was prescribed the cholesterol drug in 2002 to help reduce her risk of heart disease. Clark indicates that she had a body mass index of 22.7, which is considered a normal weight. Clark alleges that she took Lipitor to help maintain her healthy and active lifestyle, but instead the drug allegedly caused her type 2 diabetes in February 2012.

Many women are filing Lipitor lawsuits after developing diabetes. The plaintiff complaints allege that Pfizer failed to adequately warn consumers or doctors about the risks and side effects with Lipitor and the importance of closely monitoring blood glucose levels.

According to experts, Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of DePuy Orthopaedics, is facing more than 4,000 lawsuits over the DePuy Pinnacle hip device. The 4,000 plus plaintiffs, allege that the DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal design is defective and prone to premature failure and metallosis caused by the release of metal trash as the metal components grind against each other.

DePuy ASR and Pinnacle Federal MDL

The DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary is exposed to two separate gigantic multidistrict litigations, known as MDLs. The Depuy ASR lawsuits are centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The DePuy Pinnacle lawsuits are centralized in the U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas division.

The first of four separate federal trials involving problems with Bard Avaulta mesh will begin in June 2013. U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ordered that the first four Bard Avaulta lawsuits in the federal MDL will be tried individually.

Judge Goodwin is overseeing the vaginal mesh injury cases in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Here all federal lawsuits over Bard Avaulta mesh have been centralized as part of an MDL, or multi-district litigation.

The first Bard Avaulta trial in the federal court system will involve a lawsuit filed by Donna and Dan Cisson. The first trial date is scheduled to begin on June 11, 2013.

Recent medical research suggests that certain type 2 diabetic medications, known as Incretin Mimetics, including Januvia, Janumet, Byetta, Bydureon and Victoza, are potentially linked to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer side effects when compared to other diabetes treatment.

Incretin Mimetic Investigation Timeline

April 18, 2013 – Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) released a disturbing report. ISMP, monitors FDA MedWatch reports, focused on Byetta, Victoza, Januvia, Onglza and Tradjenta. Based on the report, ISMP is calling for stronger alerts on the prescribing information, as well as new studies on the long-term effects of these diabetes treatment drugs and the association with thyroid and pancreatic cancer.

The California state court judge has tossed last week’s Actos bladder cancer verdict and has reversed the $6.5 million damage award. The judge issued a post-trial ruling rejecting key expert witness testimony.

Last week, the Los Angeles County jury awarded plaintiff Jack Cooper $6.5 million for his bladder cancer injuries from Actos side effects. The trial lasted more than 2 months and Cooper argued that Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Actos, failed to adequately warn about the Actos cancer risk and claimed that use of the medication for more than two years resulted in his November 2011 diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Superior Court Judge Kenneth Freeman issued an Order tossing the jury verdict after determining that expert testimony was inadmissible. Judge Freeman determined that causation was not established in Cooper’s case. Judge Freeman said the medical expert (Dr Smith) relied on unreliable studies and did not give enough weight to Cooper’s risk factors. Cooper aged 60 and was a former smoker, a major risk factor which Takeda says probably played a larger role in his risk of bladder cancer than Actos.

According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)’s Quarter Watch report, the number of pancreatic cancer cases are increasing involving lethal side effects of Byetta, Januvia, Victoza and other diabetes drugs known as incretin mimetics.

ISMP evaluates adverse event reports submitted to the FDA, and the report, Perspectives on GLP-1 Agents For Diabetes, evaluated adverse event reports for exenatide (Byetta and Bydureon), liraglutide (Victoza), sitagliptin (Januvia and Janumet), saxagliptin (Onglyza) and linagliptin (Tradjenta).

The yearly adverse event report data ending June 2012, demonstrated that there were at least 1,723 serious adverse events submitted through the FDA’s MedWatch program. There were at least 105 pancreatic cancer cases and 831 reports of pancreatitis. Pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas gland is an important risk factor for the development of pancreas cancer.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has received a request to consolidate all federal pancreatic cancer lawsuits. These were filed by patients using Januvia, Janumet, Byetta and Victoza incretin mimetic diabetic drugs and they allege that they developed pancreatic cancer.

The injured pancreatic cancer plaintiffs have requested that all cases be centralized before U.S. District Judge Battaglia in the Southern District of California for coordinated proceedings as part of multidistrict litigation. The plaintiffs would like one single MDL be created for all Byetta, Januvia, Janumet and Victoza lawsuits, as opposed to having four separate MDLs established.

What are Incretin Mimetic Class of Drugs?