How have defective drug lawsuits helped the American people? They have helped remove harmful drug Accutane from the market, for one thing.
The acne medication was a big seller in America after receiving Food and Drug Administration approval in 1982, and for 27 years it helped fight acne. But it also produced serious Accutane side effects in the form of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD. Among the IBDs caused by Accutane are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which both are lifelong, incurable and debilitating ailments.
Clearly, such a drug as Accutane should not be sold. Yet the FDA only issued warnings about Accutane, and allowed Roche Pharmaceuticals to continue selling it.
That change, however,thanks to personal injury lawsuits for defective drug injuries.
When it became known that Accutane caused such injuries, victims began pressing for financial compensation via Accutane lawsuits. And victims began winning. In fact, in just a handful of Accutane lawsuits so far, juries have favored plaintiffs with a total of $56 million in verdicts which held that Roche was responsible for their injuries.
It was only after the Accutane lawsuit tide began growing -- and succeeding -- that Roche finally yielded and stopped producing and selling Accutane in America, though it continued to peddle the defective drug in many other countries. .
Roche claims it did this in part due to growing competition from other pharmaceutical companies after its patent to Accutane expired in 2002. Such companies sell Sotret, Claravis and Amnesteem, which are generic Accutane products also containing the harmful active ingredient Isotretinoin. These drugs, unfortunately, remain on the market, albeit with a “black box” warning from the FDA.
But Accutane itself is gone in America, clearly thanks to the Accutane lawsuits which immediately preceded its recall.
To date, over 5,000 Accutane lawsuits are in progress versus Roche, which placed profits above its customers’ safety and amassed billions of dollars in profits before finally relenting and removing Accutane from the American market.
If you or a family member took Accutane and has suffered Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or another IBD, or has had to have a colon or intestines surgically removed, alert a defective drug lawyer with the nationwide attorney group of Accutane-lawsuit-lawyer.com.
Such an Accutane lawyer or attorney can fight for your legal rights to economic recovery for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering. And already, a victory has been won by pressuring Roche to remove Accutane from the market.