The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments soon on whether a generic drug maker can be held responsible for a patient’s injuries. The case is considered very important for pharmaceutical companies, federal regulators and patients who take generic drugs. Some experts estimate that generics make up 80 percent…
More Yasmin birth control lawsuits have made their way through the court system against the manufacturer Bayer. According to a recent report, Bayer has settled many cases and paid a reported $402 million setting aside another $600 million for future settlements. Approximately 11,000 lawsuits have been filed in the federal…
GlaxoSmithKline has settled with 38 state attorney generals for $90 million in connection with its unfair and deceptive promotion of a diabetes drug, Avandia. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum led the way in the allegations that GlaxoSmithKline marketed its brand-name medication, Avandia, to treat…
The New York Times has reported that long-time use of prescription antacid drugs can result in certain illnesses, including severe anemia, bone fracture and infections. The medications can be especially dangerous for older patients, who are urged to used them as briefly as possible. The Times cited the example of…
The United States Preventive Services Task Force has issued a draft statement recommending that healthy women should not take low doses of calcium or vitamin D supplements to prevent bone fractures. The group is an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care and was appointed by the federal…
It was not long ago that Yaz and Yasmin ranked as one of the leading birth control pills on the market. They were able to corner a large share of the market in large part due to a successful ad campaign marketed towards women under 35 and promises to decrease…
In Illinois, the statute of limitations governing civil cases, e.g. medical malpractice, product liability, and personal injury cases, is typically two years. However, the Illinois Appellate Court recently revisited exactly when that two-year statute begins in its analysis of the “discovery rule” as it relates to Mitsias v. I-Flow, 2011…
Johnson & Johnson has announced that it will be dropping one of its medical devices from production – by the end of 2011, the company will cease manufacturing its drug-coated heart stents. The company explains its decision was due its decreasing market share in the heart stent category; Johnson &…
France’s Agence Francaise De Securite Sanitaire Des Produits De Sante (AFSSAPS) banned the use of Actors, a drug prescribed to control diabetes, due to concerns that it increases the risk of bladder cancer amongst patients taking the drug. Actors manufactured by Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical and is one of the pharmaceutical…
Topamax is an anticonvulsant medication that is prescribed to treat epilepsy and the associated seizures, or can also be prescribed to prevent migraine headaches. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a new warning about some birth defects associated with Topamax. Specifically, the drug warning states that mothers taking…