Angel Reyes : Texas Litigation Lawyer and Attorney : Dangerous Drugs : Wrongful Death : Business Litigation

On February 26, 2009, the FDA required the manufacturers of metoclopramide-containing drugs such as Reglan to include a black-boxed warning (the strongest warning available) to their drug labels about the risk of the long-term or high-dose use. Chronic use of metoclopramide has been linked to tardive dyskinesia, which may include involuntary and repetitive movements of the body, even after the drugs are no longer taken. Manufacturers will be required to include a medication guide with their products that discusses this risk.

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Well, wouldn't you know it. Another bought and paid for "scientist" has been outed for producing fabricated studies related to several of the bad drugs the FDA, under the Bush administration, approved.  Let's see, Dr. Scott Reuben retracted 21 studies in which he lied about the efficacy of the drugs he was supposed to be evaluating.  Those drugs involved some of the drugmakers who have paid massive settlements to victims of their drugs: Pfizer's Bextra, Merck's Vioxx, Wyeth's Effexor.  Jeez, the drug companies ought to feel super glad they managed global settlements before this story broke. 
 
I'm sure "Dr. Feelgood"  has his reasons for fabricating 21 studies, but the American people deserve more from the drug manufacturers, drug regulators, and the scientists  upon whom we rely to keep us safe.  Read the full article below.

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Finally, some sanity from the U.S. Supreme Court. Just yesterday, the Court ruled in the Wyeth v. Levine case that Federal pre-emption does not override state court law and individuals will still have the right to bring a failure to warn lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company, under their state court laws, if that company’s drug harmed the individual and the pharmaceutical company failed to adequately warn of the potential harm. Had the ruling gone the other way, drug manufacturers would have been immune from state court lawsuits alleging their drugs caused harm. For eight years, the previous administration allowed the drug industry to erode the oversight powers of the FDA and worked feverishly to push the courts to accept the Federal pre-emption doctrine, thereby killing state court lawsuits against bad drug manufacturers. Yesterday’s decision was a common sense one that protects the rights of individuals who have been harmed by drug makers, and enables them to receive money damages.

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According to the FDA, in 2007 alone, U.S. pharmacies dealt out 21 million prescriptions for 24 different opioid painkiller meds, which are used by 3.7 million Americans. So 3.7 million Americans are in such excruciating pain, they have to be on opioid medication, one of the most powerful and addictive classes of drugs there is. Now the FDA is finally expressing concern over highly potent and potentially lethal drugs such as fentanyl. My firm, HORP&B, recently won a $16.5 million verdict against the makers of the fentanyl pain patch, Duragesic. Fentanyl is named in the FDA's list of unsafe narcotic products.

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Here’s how Merriam Webster’s Learning Dictionary defines the cliché, spin your wheels: to stay in the same condition or position without making progress.  Here’s how I define spin your wheels:  Food and Drug Administration.  I’ve been blogging about the FDA’s incompetence for quite awhile now.  Here’s just one more case in point – the prescription painkiller Darvon and its sister drug, Darvocet.  Darvon has been on the market since 1957, and was developed by Eli Lilly & Co.  Darvocet is a a combination of Darvon’s active ingredient, propooxyphene and acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.  Both drugs are now marketed by generic drug manufacturers.

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The Duragesic death saga continues.  On November 17, 2008, my law firm, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei, achieved a $16,560,000 verdict for the family of a Cicero, Illinois woman who died while wearing a Duragesic fentanyl transdermal pain patch. After a 3 week trial, a Chicago jury found two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries liable for the death of 38-year-old Janice DiCosolo, a mother of three.

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Big Pharma shows its true colors yet again.  Despite numerous complaints from doctors about the risk of heart attacks from taking the diabetes drug, Avandia, the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, continued to sweep overwhelming evidence under the carpet.  Even a prominent Duke University researcher couldn’t get answers to questions about the drug’s safety.  In early 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine found that Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks by 43%.  Finally, as a result of that study, the FDA called for a Black Box Warning (the strictest warning available) on Avandia’s label.

 

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Hours after a Sanford, Florida jury awarded $13.3 million to the family of a 34-year-old woman who died while wearing a Duragesic Fentanyl Pain Patch, my firm, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei began trial in a Chicago state court jury on behalf of the family of Janice Dicosola of Cicero, Illinois.  The 38-year-old woman died in 2004 while wearing a Duragesic Pain Patch, manufactured by Alza Corporation and distributed by Janssen Pharmaceutica Products.

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A Sanford, Florida jury awarded $13.3 million to the family of 34-year-old Susan Susan Hodgemire, who died from the Duragesic Pain Patch just days after undergoing back surgery.  Hours after this verdict was returned, my firm, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei, began its case against the manufacturers of Duragesic on behalf of the family of Janice Dicosolo of Chicago, who also died while wearing the Duragesic patch.

The manufacturer of the Duragesic Transdermal Pain Patch and other brands are being sued due to a leak in the patch that allows too much of the opioid painkiller to enter the system directly through the skin, causing fatal overdose.  Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine, and this lethal drug has now killed several victims.

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Big Pharma’s dirty pool tactics don’t just extend to prescription drugs.  Bayer has some nerve in marketing two over-the-counter products without the FDA’s approval. Of course, in countless cases that approval means absolutely nothing, given the plethora of drugs that have been recalled years after the FDA’s blessings. 

The FDA has warned Bayer numerous times about its marketing efforts and claims for these products.  Because the FDA does not scrutinize supplements, Bayer pulled a fast one by combining aspirin with supplements and promoting health benefits through television and other advertising venues.  The two products are “Bayer Aspirin With Heart Advantage” which is marketed to help treat heart disease, and “Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspiring + Calcium,” marketed to treat osteoporosis. A spokesperson for the FDA says that misuse or overuse of aspirin products can result in internal bleeding or other side effects.

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A lot has been written about big pharmaceutical companies and the devastating aftermath caused by their dangerous drugs unleashed in this country.  Unfortunately there hasn't been nearly enough press about the deplorable tactics employed by these companies to put profits over people.

Apparently, the drug giant, Merck & Co., conducted a so-called scientific study prior to its market release of the deadly painkiller, Vioxx, which has since been withdrawn from the market.  The study, called ADVANTAGE, was peddled to participating doctors and their patients as research to show whether Vioxx caused fewer stomach problems than the older, less expensive drug, naproxen.  The published story did, in fact, indicate that Vioxx was better tolerated.

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I recently posted an article about the Actavis Totowa LLC recall of the drug Digitek, the #1 choice in the United States for treating congestive heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms.  This recall included Digitek tablets manufactured at the New Jersey Actavis facility because tablets may have been commercially released in the U.S. market with double the thickness of the normal sized tablets.  The flawed Digitek tablets could have twice the strength of the recommended dosage, and cause serious digitalis toxicity and even death.
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According to a CNN.com article dated Monday, July 28, 2008, home deaths from medication errors have risen dramatically over the last 20 years.  Twenty-five years ago, prescription painkillers and other potent drugs were only used in hospitals.  Now medical providers give them out like candy.  Got a migraine?  Here’s a script for Vicodin!  Feeling a little stressed?  Xanax ought to do the trick!  Apparently, we’re not supposed to feel pain or negative emotions anymore.  We’re supposed to be happy and what makes us happy in the 21st century good old US of A?  Drugs, of course. But alas, medical providers aren’t considering one big factor when doling out these dangerous meds – the human factor. Continue Reading...

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My firm, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei, is currently handling Digitek cases.  Digitek (digoxin) is the #1 choice for treating congestive heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms in the United States. On April 25, 2008, Actavis Totowa LLC, the U.S. manufacturing division of the generic pharmaceutical company Actavis Group, voluntarily initiated a Class I nationwide recall of Digitek oral tablets of all strengths. Digitek is distributed by Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. under a "Bertek" label and by UDL Laboratories, Inc. under a "UDL" label. Continue Reading...

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