Product Liability Lawyer Blog

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has recently approved a motion to consolidate federal lawsuits filed against Pfizer Inc. due to Lipitor side effects. Lipitor is a widely-prescribed drug that was marketed to patients as a means of lowering cholesterol. Unfortunately, the drug has been linked to the development of Type 2 diabetes and patients who developed diabetes have sued the drug manufacturer.

The Judicial Panel On Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has approved the consolidation of the cases before the Honorable Judge Richard M. Gergel, who is already presiding over 27 Lipitor cases. The Judge’s experience in hearing Lipitor cases over the course of the past year has prepared him to manage the mass tort litigation that the approved motion creates.
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AndroGel is a topical hormone marketed to men experiencing complications from low levels of natural testosterone. AndroGel was heavily promoted by Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie Inc., with the companies selling the product through testimony from retired professional athletes. Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie Inc. also provided statistics and fed positive reports to the press, showing that Low-T was a widespread problem that AndroGel could solve.

Unfortunately, the positives of this topical treatment may have been exaggerated and the risks downplayed. Men who used AndroGel now claim to have suffered serious injuries as a result of complications they were unaware of when they used the testosterone replacement drug. Lawsuits have been filed to pursue a claim for damages, and other victims who were harmed by AndroGel should contact a products liability lawyer for help pursuing their own claims.
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Concerns regarding defective drugs in New England are heightened, following Maine’s recent passage of a law that allows residents there to import prescription drugs from overseas.

The policy’s staunch critics include the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturer’s of America, the Maine Pharmacy Association and big-name drug manufacturers such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. The problem, they say, is that when drugs are imported from overseas, quality control standards may not apply.

Part of it, of course, is that, undoubtedly, cheaper prescription drugs from other countries cut into profits. But our defective drug lawyers in Boston believe these firms do have a point.
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A new leukemia drug hit the market last year – and approval was promptly suspended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amid concerns that it caused the potential for life-threatening blood clots and a severe restriction of the blood vessels.

The drug, known as Iclusig and ponatinib, has reportedly been linked to a number of fatal strokes and heart attacks, as well as incidents of blindness and a loss of blood to the extremities severe enough to warrant amputation. Our Boston product liability attorneys have learned that in some instances, death resulted less than two weeks after patients started their prescriptions.

Those who died were in their 20s and were not at any heightened risk for heart disease.
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Acetaminophen is far and away considered one of the safest drugs on the market. It’s the active ingredient in Tylenol, and tens of millions of people take this popular pain reliever and fever reducer every week with no major problems.

But did you know that over the last 10 years, some 1,500 Americans have died after accidentally consuming too much acetaminophen? That breaks down to about 150 cases a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A new series of reports indicate the in large quantities, particularly when taken in combination with alcohol, the drug can significantly damage and possibly even decimate the liver.
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