Category Archives: Prescription Drug Claims

Rate of Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse Grew Significantly in Recent Years

Written On May 6, 2013 By Bob Kraft

The AP reports, “The rate of pharmaceutical drug abuse has grown significantly in recent years, police say. In fact, more Americans abuse prescription drugs than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy and inhalants combined, according to the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators.” In short, “teens swipe painkillers from a relative’s medicine chest; home health workers pocket pills when [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Appeals Court Says Neurontin (Gabapentin) Claims Against Pfizer Denied Improperly

Written On April 17, 2013 By Bob Kraft

Bloomberg News reports Pfizer and its Warner-Lambert unit “may have to face insurers’ lawsuits alleging” they marketed the epilepsy treatment “Neurontin [gabapentin]” for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. A “US Court of Appeals in Boston” ruled yesterday that a “lower-court judge erred in refusing to allow so-called ‘third-party payers,’ such as health [...]

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“60 Minutes” Investigates Compounding Pharmacies

Written On March 14, 2013 By Bob Kraft

The CBS Evening News has been airing clips from the “60 Minutes” probe into specialty pharmacies, including the New England Compounding Center, which was linked to the meningitis outbreak last fall. Below is a compilation of the CBS segments as well as video clips of the interviews on “60 Minutes,” including one of FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret [...]

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Public Citizen Opposes FDA Proposals for Compounding Labs

Written On February 14, 2013 By Bob Kraft

The Tennessean says Public Citizen sent HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a letter expressing “strong opposition” to and “great concern” with FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg’s proposals for improved oversight of compounding labs in the wake of the fungal meningitis outbreak. In the letter, the consumer advocate said, “Dr. Hamburg’s performance in the wake of the preventable fungal [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Pharmacy Tied to Meningitis Outbreak Declares Bankruptcy

Written On February 6, 2013 By Bob Kraft

The CBS Evening News reported “The specialty pharmacy linked to that deadly meningitis outbreak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.” NBC Nightly News (12/22, story 7, 0:25, Holt, 7.86M) added that the Framingham, Massachusetts-based specialty pharmacy “is facing 130 lawsuits.” According to Reuters, the NECC, in documents filed Friday with the US Bankruptcy Court for [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

FDA Advisory Panel Recommends New Restrictions on Hydrocodone Products

Written On January 30, 2013 By Bob Kraft

This is a follow-up to an earlier post. An FDA advisory panel’s recommendation regarding hydrocodone restrictions received a substantial amount of coverage in print, online, and on two of last night’s national news broadcasts. Some sources pointed out that the FDA was likely to adopt the recommendation. Additionally, many sources pointed out that the recommendation [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

FDA Panel Hearing to Consider Reclassifying Hydrocodone Drug Products

Written On January 24, 2013 By Bob Kraft

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration “has again asked the FDA to consider tightening prescribing and other rules on hydrocodone drugs.” The FDA will hold hearings on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 to consider whether to move hydrocodone products from schedule III to the highly regulated “schedule II” class under which narcotics such [...]

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Documents Detail Lax Oversight in Meningitis Outbreak

Written On December 6, 2012 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reported, “Newly released documents add vivid detail to the emerging portrait of the Food and Drug Administration’s ineffective and halting efforts to regulate a Massachusetts company implicated in a national meningitis outbreak that has sickened nearly 500 people and killed 34.” In documents, released on Nov. 20, “in response to a Freedom of [...]

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Sister Firm of Company Linked to Meningitis Outbreak Recalls Its Pharmaceutical Products

Written On November 6, 2012 By Bob Kraft

The Wall Street Journal reports that Westborough, Mass.-based drug-mixing pharmacy Ameridose LLC recalled its products on Wednesday following a message from Federal health inspectors stating that the company should improve its sterility testing. The Journal notes that Ameridose is a sister firm of New England Compounding Center, the pharmacy whose steroid injections have been linked to a [...]

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The Meningitis Outbreak Spreads

Written On November 1, 2012 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is courtesy of San Diego trial lawyer Dwight Ritter. The recent fungal meningitis outbreak, which stems from contaminated steroid injections made by the New England Compounding Center, Inc., has now spread into another state, Rhode Island, as of Monday, October 29, making it the 19th state to be affected by these dangerous [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Thousands Exposed to Meningitis-Linked Steroid Injection. Feds Call for Increased Regulation of Drug Compounding Industry

Written On October 15, 2012 By Bob Kraft

The fungal meningitis outbreak resulting from steroid injections has been all over the news for the past week or so. The steroids were apparently contaminated at the New England Compounding Center. Here are links to many stories on this growing tragedy, compiled by the American Association for Justice: The AP (10/12) reports, “A Minnesota woman who may [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Tort Immunity for Big Pharmaceutical Companies in Texas?

Written On July 11, 2012 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is courtesy of the consumer organization Texas Watch. The Texas Supreme Court has given Big Pharma a license to defraud Texas patients. In its decision in Centocor vs. Hamilton, the Supreme Court ruled that big drug companies have no responsibility to directly warn patients about the dangers of powerful pharmaceuticals. With doctors and [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Tort Reform

FDA Safe-Use Proposal Divides Pharmacy and Physician Groups

Written On June 28, 2012 By Bob Kraft

In continuing coverage, Medscape reports that the FDA’s proposal for “safe-use” medications is causing “alarm” for “the American Medical Association (AMA) and other medical societies, which see the beginnings of an end-run around physician authority.” The FDA has identified conditions for drugs qualifying for “safe use” that might even require “an initial visit to a clinician for [...]

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Actos May Be Linked to Increased Risk of Bladder Cancer

Written On June 6, 2012 By Bob Kraft

Reuters reported that, according to a study published online in BMJ, the diabetes medication Actos (pioglitazone) may be linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. HealthDay reported that investigators “collected data on nearly 116,000 people treated for diabetes from 1988 to 2009 and listed in the General Practice Research Database, which contains records from [...]

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New Hampshire Woman’s Pharmaceutical Liability Lawsuit May Reach Supreme Court

Written On May 31, 2012 By Bob Kraft

In 2004, Karen Bartlett, of Plaistow, New Hampshire, begin taking the generic medication sulindac, an anti-inflammatory medication. Unfortunately, Bartlett soon began to suffer from one of the drug’s side effects, a condition known as toxic epidermal necrolysis, which left her with burns on 65% of her body and rendered her almost totally blind. Bartlett sued [...]

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Fake Avastin Shows Very Little Protection For Drug Supply

Written On March 19, 2012 By Bob Kraft

We would like to think that the medications we take are safe — protected by government standards from containing harmful ingredients. Unfortunately, that simply is not true these days. Manufacturers of counterfeit drugs are managing to stay a step ahead of the regulators, both in the United States and in other countries. The situation is [...]

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Cholesterol-Lowering Statins Could Cause Diabetes in Some People

Written On March 13, 2012 By Bob Kraft

The cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins, such as Lipitor and Crestor, have been suspected of causing serious side effects, chiefly muscle weakness and liver damage. Now a new study shows that there is a possibility that statins may cause Type 2 diabetes in some patients. Millions of Americans take statins. So if diabetes is caused [...]

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When Doctors Ditch Pens, Medical Errors Drop

Written On February 16, 2012 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a very interesting article from the Washington Post writer Ezra Klein on his WonkBlog. The gist is that when doctors use computerized systems to prescribe medication, the error rate drops by 60%. There’s a lot of interest in health care right now in digitizing doctors’ decision-making, using computer databases to assist in diagnoses and [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Prescription Drug Claims

Featured Link — AdverseEvents.com

Written On February 14, 2012 By Bob Kraft

AdverseEvents is a new Web site that lists possible unwanted side-effects from taking medications. There is some very good information here for free, although to get more details you do have to subscribe to the site. Here is their description: Adverse Events, Inc. (AEI) is the only provider of up-to-the-minute, critical, potentially life-saving information regarding [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Prescription Drug Claims

Study Reveals More Deaths By Poisoning Than Car Crashes

Written On January 9, 2012 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a story that took me by surprise — deaths by poisoning have overtaken deaths by auto collision in the United States. The latest statistics are from 2008, and were reported by the National Center for Health Statistics. The report was detailed in an article in the New York Times. Here are excerpts: An analysis [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Vehicle Law or News