Accutane may have been removed from the market in 2009, but Accutane history is far from over.
That history reaches back to 1979, when pharmaceutical manufacturer Hoffman-LaRoche registered the drug Isotretinoin, a powerful Vitamin A supplement. But in a way Accutane’s history goes beyond that, since Vitamin A had been used as an acne treatment dating back to the year 1930.
Prior to Accutane’s development, much severe acne was treated with an oral antibiotic, such as Erythromycin or tetracyclines. These had some success, but also many failures. An alternative was to treat severe acne with elevated doses of fat soluble Vitamin A, but this, too, proved problematic.
Later the National Institute of Health conducted research on Isotretinoin, a high dosage Vitamin A drug, and learned that it could be effective in fighting severe acne. Hoffman-LaRoche then registered Isotretinoin and in 1982 began selling it in the form of Accutane.
Originally, Accutane was supposed to be marketed only to persons suffering from extreme or severe cases of acne. Yet the powerful, potent drug soon became used by many people who did not necessarily suffer extreme cases of acne. In fact, Hoffman-LaRoche, also known as Roche Pharmaceuticals, has sold Accutane to a reported 5 million people in America and another 12 million worldwide. (In Europe, the product is called Roacccutane.)
It stopped selling to Americans in 2009, when Roche removed Accutane from the market. (It continues to sell Accutane in many other countries.)
Roche claimed this Accutane recall was done for two reasons: heightened competition from companies selling generic Accutane such as Sotret, Amnesteem and Claravis after Roche’s 20-year patent on Accutane ended in 2002, and increasing Accutane lawsuits against Roche by those claiming Accutane caused serious side effects.
The first reason may not be fully germane, considering the fact that Roche made $1.2 billion from selling Accutane in America the previous year. But lawsuits are another matter. They’ve begun to prevail against Roche, with up to $56 million in jury verdicts awarded to victims so far.
But even with a Roche Accutane recall in America, Accutane history continues. The potent acne drug remains available as generic Accutane, and Roche continues to sell Accutane in many other countries around the world -- countries where Accutane lawsuit action has not yet hit Roche so hard.
This Accutane history now needs another component: extensive success in pressing defective drug lawsuits and personal injury lawsuits against Roche for its negligence in selling an acne medication that has harmed so many Americas.
Accutane has been shown to cause inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Among a host of other serious Accutane side effects, Accutane also can necessitate that a victim have his or her colon or parts of the intestine removed surgically.
Such injuries are lifelong, incurable and debilitating, and they certainly merit scrutiny with an eye toward proceeding with an Accutane lawsuit. If you or a family member suffered an IBD injury after taking oral prescription drug Accutane or generic Accutane, alert an Accutane lawyer or defective drug attorney with the nationwide attorney service of Accutane-Lawsuit-Lawyer.com.
You may be entitled to an extensive cash reward or settlement for your Accutane injury. But you can’t find out unless you pursue an Accutane lawsuit.
Call 1-800-339-0606 today, or submit the brief free case review form on this website. Then let an Accutane lawyer shoulder the task of gaining financial compensation for you and your loved ones for an Accutane injury.