Category Archives: Prescription Drug Claims

FDA Reviewing Information on Fosamax-Related Fractures

Written On March 10, 2010 By Bob Kraft

In a follow-up piece to Monday evening’s report on femur fractures related to Fosamax (alendronate), ABC World News (3/9, story 4, 2:20, Sawyer) reported that ABC’s Richard Besser, MD, interviewed FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, MD, asking him if now is the time for the agency “to send out a notice to physicians to be [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Supreme Court Will Hear Case About Vaccine Side Effects

Written On March 10, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Supreme Court will decide whether drug makers can be sued by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from vaccines. As reported by the Associated Press, the Court agreed to hear an appeal from parents who want to sue Wyeth over the serious side effects their daughter, six months old at the time, [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

FDA Investigating Possible Fosamax-Related Femur Fractures

Written On March 10, 2010 By Bob Kraft

If you saw the ABC World News report this week showing the frightening femur fractures that some women who have been using the bisphosphonate drug Fosamax (alendronate) to fight osteoporosis are now suffering, you won’t soon forget it. ABC’s Richard Besser, MD, explained the drug may “limit…bone’s natural ability to protect itself from stress.” He [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Glaxo Defends Handling of Avandia Heart Risks

Written On February 26, 2010 By Bob Kraft

GlaxoSmithKline said this week that a Senate report criticizing its handling of heart risks with its diabetes drug Avandia “mischaracterizes and distorts” the company’s record. As reported by the Associated Press, Glaxo is unhappy with the way the company’s response to reports of heart attacks caused by Avandia have been characterized by the Food and [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Diabetes Drug Avandia Harmful to Heart

Written On February 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The diabetes drug Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, has been found to cause heart attacks and heart failure. Confidential government reports supposedly call for the drug to be taken off the market. The Dallas Morning News has consolidated several news articles on this subject, and here are excerpts:
The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Prescription Drug Claims

Johnson & Johnson Accused of Drug Kickbacks

Written On January 19, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reported, “Johnson & Johnson paid kickbacks to the nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy to increase the number of elderly patients taking” several of its medications, “according to a complaint filed…by the office of the United States attorney in Boston.” The complaint alleges that Omnicare received “tens of millions of dollars…to buy [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Baxter International Faces Lawsuits Over Tainted Heparin

Written On January 14, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Baxter International Inc., which recalled its blood thinner heparin amid reports of allergic reactions and deaths in 2008, faces at least 30 lawsuits in Chicago by injured people or their estates.
As many as 300 product-liability complaints may be filed in the Illinois state court, plaintiffs’ attorney Allen Schwartz of Kralovec, Jambois & Schwartz said today [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

FDA Looking Into Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets Recall

Written On December 31, 2009 By Bob Kraft

ABC World News (12/30, story 8, 1:20, Muir) reported that “Johnson & Johnson is recalling Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets, after consumers grew concerned about nasty side effects.” Correspondent David Kerley explained, “Tylenol arthritis caplets with an easy cap have been taken off shelves, all…bottles produced in the past three years.” J&J “says a chemical seeped [...]

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

Recall of Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets Expanded

Written On December 30, 2009 By Bob Kraft

NBC Nightly News (12/29, story 6, 0:25, Williams) reported, “The drugmaker Johnson & Johnson is expanding its own voluntary recall of one of its Tylenol products.”
The Chicago Tribune reports that J&J “is expanding a voluntary recall of Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets due to consumer reports of a moldy smell that can cause nausea and sickness.”
Specifically, [...]

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

Who Is Seeing Your Prescription Drug Information?

Written On December 15, 2009 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times reports on the practice of data mining by drugmakers, explaining that the companies can obtain prescribing “data from pharmacies and health insurers, [allowing them to] learn the prescribing habits of thousands of doctors. That information has become not just a powerful sales and marketing tool for the pharmaceutical industry but also [...]

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

Senator Seeks Financial Details From Medical Groups

Written On December 10, 2009 By Bob Kraft

As reported in the New York Times, Republican Senator Charles Grassley has sent letters to the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society and 31 other disease and medical advocacy organizations asking them to provide details about the amount of money that they and their directors receive from drug and device makers. This inquiry may [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Political and/or Judicial, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

CVS Accused of Selling Expired Over-the-Counter Drugs

Written On December 4, 2009 By Bob Kraft

The Wall Street Journal this week reported on a lawsuit against CVS pharmacies for selling expired drugs. Here are excerpts from the article:
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Monday that his office is suing a unit of CVS Caremark Corp. for allegedly selling expired over-the-counter drugs and other products in its stores in Connecticut.
In a [...]

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

Eli Lilly to Pay $24 Million in Zyprexa Off-Label Marketing Suit

Written On November 12, 2009 By Bob Kraft

The AP reports, “Utah has agreed to a $24 million settlement with Eli Lilly & Co. over claims the drugmaker engaged in off-label marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa [olanzapine],” according to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The drug is currently “approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and certain types of bipolar disorder,” but “the company’s [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Amgen Accused of Kickback Scheme to Boost Aranesp Sales

Written On November 2, 2009 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reported, “The biotechnology giant Amgen has been accused by New York and some other states of engaging in illegal kickbacks to promote sales of its anemia drug Aranesp [darbepoetin alfa].” The states filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that “Amgen, in effect, provided free samples to doctors and clinics by putting tiny [...]

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FDA Fails to Withdraw Unproven Drugs

Written On October 27, 2009 By Bob Kraft

Did you know that the Food and Drug Administration has never pulled a drug off the market simply because the drug doesn’t provide the benefits the manufacturer claimed it would? I have to admit I didn’t know that either, until I read an Associated Press article about an upcoming report from the Government Accountability Office. [...]

Posted in Government, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Featured Link – DrugWatch.com

Written On October 22, 2009 By Bob Kraft

DrugWatch.com is a helpful site that consists of a database of medications, with information about conditions treated by the drug, interactions, suggested dosage, and possible side effects. Check it out. Here is the description from the site:
Welcome to DrugWatch.com
DrugWatch.com is a comprehensive Web site database featuring extensive information about thousands of different medications and drugs [...]

Posted in Medical and Health Resources, Prescription Drug Claims

Merck Starts Revealing Payments to Doctors Who Help Market Merck’s Drugs

Written On October 21, 2009 By Bob Kraft

Drug maker Merck & Co. has revealed this week that the company paid doctors and nurses about $3.7 million to give presentations to medical groups this summer alone. I’ll give Merck credit for finally starting to come clean on the highly-charged issue of paying doctors to tout Merck’s products. I think this type of marketing [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Medication Problems and the Elderly

Written On October 13, 2009 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is from the National Care Planning Council.
At 83 years old, Martha still lived in her own home, and enjoyed working in her garden and canning peaches. It was becoming harder to motivate herself, to get up in the mornings and accomplish the day’s tasks. She confided to her daughter that she felt [...]

Posted in Health Insurance, Medical and Health Resources, Prescription Drug Claims

FDA Requires Strong Amputation Warning on Sedative Promethazine

Written On September 17, 2009 By Bob Kraft

As reported by the Associated Press, the Food and Drug Administration is requiring manufacturers of injected promethazine, a sedative also used to treat nausea and vomiting, to put the strongest warning possible on the product because it can cause tissue damage leading to amputation. Here are excerpts from the aticle:
The drug, previously sold by Wyeth [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Off-Label Drug Campaigns Unlikely To Disappear

Written On September 8, 2009 By Bob Kraft

As written by the Associated Press, the huge fine levied last week against Pfizer is unlikely to stop pharmaceutical companies from the profitable practice of off-label marketing of prescription drugs. Drugs are approved by the government for particular uses, but obviously drug manufacturers can make more money if they can promote their drugs as the [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims