FDA & Prescription Drugs

• Vioxx According to Jurors

  Joe Saunders | April 24, 2006 8:14 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  There's an insightful article in the online version of the Wall St. Journalregarding what jurors think when it comes to the pharmaceutical giant Merck and their drug Vioxx. The article states that three things are important when it comes to prevailing in a lawsuit against the maker of Vioxx: 1)show the victim used Vioxx; 2)a believable plaintiff witness, and 3)risk factors galore. Now, in my...

• Court Documents Show Ortho McNeil Knew Ortho Evra Was Lethal

  Joe Saunders | April 24, 2006 6:40 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  Documents have surfaced in litigation that show Ortho-McNeil has been analyzing the FDA's death and injury reports on women using the Ortho Evra birth-control patch, and has charts that show a higher rate of blood clots and deaths in women on the patch when compared to women who take birth-control pills. In addition, according to a November 11, 2005, article by the Associated Press, an internal...

• GAO Criticizes FDA on How it Handles Drugs

  Joe Saunders | April 24, 2006 6:35 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  The Government Accountability Office has published a report sharply critical of the Food and Drug Administration. The report states that the organization is sometimes too slow in recognizing safety problems once drugs have gone to market. The GAO report also says the FDA does not have clear policies for addressing drug safety issues and that it sometimes excludes its best safety experts from...

• ReNu Being Removed From Shelves-What's Next?

  Joe Saunders | April 15, 2006 7:55 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  As the Bausch & Lomb contact solution is being removed from store shelves all across the country, users of the ReNu with MoistureLoc can do several things: 1) they need to monitor the health of their eyes ie. beware of symptoms including blurry vision, pain or redness, excessive discharge and increased sensitivity to light, 2)obtain legal & medical advice promptly.Bausch & Lomb stopped...

• Fosamax: An Example of What's Wrong with the Pharma Industry

  Joe Saunders | April 15, 2006 7:43 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  When I discovered that Fosamax belonged to the same family of drugs as those employed in chemotherapy treatments and that these class of drugs were thought to cause osteonecrosis, I wanted to know why Merck hadn't come forward with that knowledge. Well, as Merck has shown in its defense of Vioxx, the company is more concerned with profits than people. In the midst of the news reports about...

• Merck and Fosamax

  Joe Saunders | April 14, 2006 12:49 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  It appears the manufacturer of Fosamax, the osteoporosis drug, knew about potential serious problems with the drug back in 2004. Fosamax belongs to a family of drugs called bisphosphonates which are believed to cause a severe osteonecrosis. Merck has made $3million from Fosamax and didn't want to change its labeling for fear of declining sales. Sound familiar?

• Fosamax-Merck's Latest Headache

  Joe Saunders | April 13, 2006 2:28 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  For Merck & Co. the bad news doesn't seem to end. On the heels of being hit with $9 million in punitive damages from its drug Vioxx, Merck is now facing lawsuits from its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. Fosamax is a defective product because it can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw, or a rotting of the jaw bone. The suit in question was filed in Ft. Myers, Florida and seeks class action status. The...

• Merck Told to Pay $9million in Punitive and Compensatory Damages

  Joe Saunders | April 11, 2006 11:40 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  Merck, the manufacturer of the pain killer Vioxx, has been ordered to pay $9 million in punitive and compensatory damages by a New Jersey jury. The verdict came after a jury concluded that the drug maker knowingly misled regulators about its troubled painkiller. Merck has stated that it will appeal the unexpected verdict.

• NJ Appeals Court Upholds Vioxx Class Action Status

  Joe Saunders | April 01, 2006 8:34 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  A New Jersey appellate court upheld the national class action status of the Vioxx lawsuits. This is significant for plaintiffs who've brought suit against Merck, the manufacturer of the once popular arthritis drug. The lawsuit, which seeks reimbursement for as much as $9.6 billion of Vioxx purchases, could significantly complicate Merck's defense efforts as it battles thousands of cases...

• Company Draws Fire for Using Blood Substitute Without Patients' Consent

  Joe Saunders | March 20, 2006 9:04 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  Northfield Laboratories has come under heavy criticism for the unorthodox manner in which it is testing its new blood substitute PolyHeme. However, it's not the substitute itself that has caused the uproar. It's the fact that the 31 hospitals around the country participating in the study have failed to inform the patients of the substitute's use. The subjects of the study, badly hemorrhaging...