The Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled that a woman who developed lupus and hepatitis after taking the acne drug Solodyn could pursue a consumer fraud claim against the drug manufacturer, Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. Amanda Watts of Chandler, Arizona, sued Medicis for failing to provide adequate warning information about the potential side effects of Solodyn. Her…
The makers of Viagra — the “little blue pill” used to treat erectile dysfunction — may be subject to new multidistrict litigation (MDL) if a judicial panel votes to approve the establishment of an MDL for a number of cases that charge Viagra causes melanoma. In December 2015, Pfizer agreed that MDL coordination was appropriate…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers that patients with underlying advanced liver disease risk serious liver injury by using two hepatitis C treatments — Viekira Pak and Technivie — manufactured by AbbVie. Both of the AbbVie drugs are used to treat chronic hepatitis C, a condition caused by a viral infection that…
Despite a 2012 directive from Congress to better include patients in the development of treatments for disease, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that the key to a drug’s approval is still scientific evidence. A recent Bloomberg report noted that a drug to treat Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, Kyndrisa from BioMarin Pharmaceutical, failed to gain…
Millions of Americans take over-the-counter herbal and botanical supplements every day, but there is growing evidence that these supplements can interfere with a number of prescription medications for everything from high blood pressure to cancer. According to a recent Wall Street Journal story, researchers have discovered that some supplements change the way the body metabolizes drugs. In…
A footnote in a plaintiff’s brief in a federal lawsuit against two major pharmaceutical companies has led the New York Times to pose an unsettling question: did Bayer and Johnson & Johnson mislead the editors of a leading medical journal in an effort to protect Xarelto, an anti-clotting drug that is a sales blockbuster for…
A footnote in a plaintiff’s brief in a federal lawsuit against two major pharmaceutical companies has led the New York Times to pose an unsettling question: did Bayer and Johnson & Johnson mislead the editors of a leading medical journal in an effort to protect Xarelto, an anti-clotting drug that is a sales blockbuster for…
According to an analysis published in PDS, Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, most drug manufacturers are guilty of under reporting serious side effects of drugs on the market. Drug companies are required to investigate and report side effects of their products, however they often fail to report or file incomplete reports which makes it difficult to…
The centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that there were more drug overdose deaths in 2014 than in any year previously. The majority involved opioids (prescription pain relievers and heroin). In 2014, drug overdose deaths in the U. S. Outnumbered motor vehicle crash deaths. The report noted that the increase in overdose…
More than 200 lawsuits filed against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. These lawsuits allege that the drug Zofran (Ondanestron) causes birth defects including heart defects and cleft palate. Zofran is an anti-nausea drug that was approved by the FDA for use in chemotherapy patients…