Articles Posted in Dangerous Drugs

The drug Pradaxa was the first in a new class of anticoagulant drugs called thrombin inhibitors. Pradaxa was an immediate hit with atrial fibrillation patients as an alternative to the high-maintenance Warfarin. The industry standard of anticoagulant treatments up until recently, warfarin requires constant blood monitoring to check for hemorrhaging. However, this new class of thrombin inhibitors claimed to have less side-effects and no need for blood monitoring. This claim was met with great enthusiasm by patients and physicians alike, to the tune of $1 billion in annual sales. Unfortunately, in all of the excitement, some major details got overlooked. Contact a Boston Injury Lawyer.

Pradaxa Manufacturer Settles $650 Million Lawsuit

All anticoagulants come with a risk of increased bleeding. It’s what can be done once the hemorrhaging begins that determines the safety of the drug. With Warfarin, despite the inconvenience of constant blood monitoring and the very increased risk of hemorrhaging, there is an approved reversal agent (antidote) if hemorrhaging does occur. Physicians can administer a dose of vitamin K and fresh frozen plasma to quickly halt the bleeding. Unfortunately, no such antidote exists with Pradaxa or any thrombin inhibitor currently on the market. Boehringer Ingelheim’s failure to warn of this very important detail is at the core of many of the 4,000 lawsuits recently settled by the manufacturer for a total of $650 million. The settlement comes out to more than $150,000  per person. Continue reading

A multi-party lawsuit against the New England Compounding Center for the drug injuries and deaths of people who received contaminated steroid injections is proceeding. Named among them are NECC owners Greg Conigliaro, Lisa Cadden, and Barry Cadden. Products liability lawyers are attempting to add more defendants, including the maintenance company that was tasked with cleaning the facility where the compounding pharmacy was located and a number of pain clinics where the tainted injection was administered.

Hundreds of patients in at last 23 states were exposed to fungal meningitis via the shots, which contained black mold, and over 60 people died from related complications. The defective drug came from NECC, which is a compounding pharmacy in Framingham, Massachusetts that has since been shut down. It also is seeking bankruptcy protection.

In one fungal meningitis lawsuit related to this particular contamination outbreak, one woman isn’t suing NECC but instead is going after its sister companies, which share ownership and other ties with it:

Following the discover of “foreign matters” in vials of drugs for injection, Pallimed Solutions, Inc., a Woburn, Massachusetts compounding pharmacy, had recalled over a dozen products. The decision comes after the state board ordered the company to stop making drugs that were supposed to have been manufactured with sterile processes.

So far, there have been no reports of related injuries or illnesses.

Among the products included in the voluntary recall are those used in eye treatments and hormone replacement therapy and for erectile dysfunction. In a press release, Pallimed Solutions said it made the decision to call back the products following an inspection by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy and the US Food and Drug Administration and to ensure patient safety. According to The Globe, late last year the state of Massachusetts told Pallimed to stop making sildenafil citrate, also known as Viagra, because it was manufactured using “improper components.”