Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

According to Merck & Co., Inc. form 10-K annual report for the fiscal year 2011, published on February 28th, approximately 950 NuvaRing lawsuits were pending as of Dec. 31st 2011.

This critical information is buried deep in the financial disclosures, pages 118, 119.

The plaintiffs are alleging damages for personal injuries sustained from NuvaRing, including deaths, venous thromboembolism, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and strokes.

According to a report in Bloomberg News, Bayer AG will pay at least $110 million to settle about 500 lawsuits over claims that its Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella lines of birth-control pills caused blood clots, in the first round of case settlement.

Bayer, is based in Leverkusen, Germany, and agreed to pay an average of about $220,000 a case to resolve the claims that its Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella drugs caused venous thrombo-embolism that can lead to heart attacks, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and strokes.

The settlements came after federal judge Herndon overseeing the MDL litigation in Illinois postponed Jan. 9 bellwether trials. The complaints alleged that Bayer and some of its units mislead women about the health risks of its birth-control pills.

An Arkansas judge fined Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary more than $1.1 billion for downplaying and concealing risks associated with the antipsychotic drug Risperdal.

Judge Tim Fox ruled that Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its parent company must pay $5,000 for each of 240,000 Risperdal prescriptions the state Medicaid program paid for during a 3½-year period. He also fined the companies $2,500 for more than 4,500 letters Jannsen sent to Arkansas doctors, about $11 million.

Arkansas sued the companies alleging they misled doctors throughout the state in a letter that downplayed Risperdal’s side effects.

Tylenol is the most popular pain killer in America, with billions of the tablets and capsules sold each year.

Acetaminophen is the generic name for Tylenol, and is found in well over 200 commonly available over the counter medications, including DayQuil® and Tylenol®.

Acetaminophen-related liver injuries (Acetaminophen Injury) result in over 56,000 emergency room visits each year, 26,000 hospitalizations each year, and over 450 deaths.

The FDA made a safety announcement today regarding birth control pills containing Drospirenone and the new label change, that these products may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots.

FDA indicated that it had completed its review of recent observational (epidemiologic) studies regarding the risk of blood clots in women taking drospirenone-containing birth control pills. According to the FDA, drospirenone-containing birth control pills may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots than other progestin-containing pills.

What is Drospirenone

Many more Yaz injury plaintiffs are being added to the growing YAZ multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Bayer, but this time it’s not for deadly blood clots or a heart attack.

Plaintiffs are litigating against Bayer Healthcare because they suffered severe gallbladder disease, one of the many side effects from this oral contraceptive.

Plaintiffs are claiming gallstones, cholecystitis (inflammation) and biliary dyskinesia, as disorders that disrupts the emptying and filling of the gallbladder. Most plaintiffs eventually end up get a cholecystectomy or gallbladder removal.

Natazia (estradiol valerate and estradiol valerate/dienogest), a fourth generation oral contraceptive made by pharmaceutical giant Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc, was FDA-approved on March 15, 2012, for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding.

In February 2012, the FDA gave Natazia a Black Box Warning regarding “Thromboembolic Disorders and Other Vascular Problems.” The warning states:

“Data from a large, prospective cohort safety study of various COCs (combined oral contraceptives) suggest that this increased risk, as compared to that in non-COC users, is greatest during the first 6 months of COC use. Data from this safety study indicate that the greatest risk of VTE is present after initially starting a COC or restarting (following a 4 week or greater pill-free interval) the same or a different COC.”

According to a medical study, patients who received metal-on-metal hip replacements are at no greater risk of developing cancer after a seven-year period than the general population.

The research is published in the British Medical Journal, and recommends that longer-term review is needed of the effect of metal particles released from the implants, because some tumors take many years to develop.

The BMJ and the British Broadcasting Corp. said Feb. 28 that a joint investigation showed patients with the metal-on-metal implants may have been exposed to toxic metals that can cause long-term disability.

The blood thinner Pradaxa, (subject of 6 wrongful death US lawsuits), according to a new FDA report, may have been responsible for another 117 deaths during the second quarter of 2011.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) published their quarterly report (PDF) earlier this week on adverse event reports between April and June 2011.

Pradaxa (dabigatran) is associated with more adverse reported cases than any other regularly monitored drug, the anticoagulant had been on the market for less than a year at the time.