Product Liability Lawyer Blog

February 26, 2016

Johnson & Johnson Agrees to Transvaginal Mesh Settlement

According to recent news from the Legal Reader, Johnson & Johnson, a major pharmaceuticals firm and medical device manufacturer, has agreed to settle as many as 3,000 of the products liability lawsuits it is now facing related to its transvaginal mesh implant device.

The reported amount of the settlement is $120 million, and it involves claims that its transvaginal mesh products caused pelvic erosion, extreme pain and discomfort, and internal organ damage as a result of manufacturing and design defects, as well as failure to adequately warn potential victims. While many lawsuits are still ongoing, somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 of the claims will be dismissed as part of this settlement. Continue reading

February 22, 2016

Questions about Xarelto Clinical Trials

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

There is a good chance that the millions of people watching this year’s Super Bowl will see a commercial for Xarelto. Xarelto, with a generic name rivaroxaban, is making hundreds of millions of dollars for Beyer and Janssen (a wholly owned Johnson & Johnson subsidiary), and these companies will take any chance they can get to increased sales.

Xarelto is a often called a blood thinning medication like Warfarin (Coumadin), which is its biggest competitor, but it is actually an anticoagulant. Xarelto serves the same purpose as a blood thinner, but workers differently. A blood thinner, as the name implies, thins a patient’s blood, and this makes it more difficult for blood clots to form. There is nothing wrong with clotting when we are talking about a cut that is bleeding. The human body produces platelets to form clots to stop bleeding when a laceration occurs. Continue reading

February 18, 2016

Pros and Cons of Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT)

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

There has been a great deal of debate about whether there is any medical benefit to taking testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). It should first be noted, we are talking about men who do not suffer from hypogonadism. Hypogonadism is a rare medical condition characterized by an extremely low testosterone level, especially during a time when the patient is still developing.

This condition is the reason testosterone therapy was created, and it is currently the only condition for which the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TRT in the 1970s, and this has not changed. This is not to say that the many so-called T clinics around the country are prescribing testosterone replacement therapy illegally, but they are administering for an off-label use. Continue reading

February 15, 2016

Eliquis Turning Huge Profits for Bristol-Myers Squibb

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news feature from Fierce Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) has reported huge profits over the past fiscal quarter. Their immuno-oncology division had released a drug known as Opodivo that earned $475 million in last quarter alone, but much of the company’s success also comes from a drug known as Eliquis, which raked in $602 million over the same time period.

Eliquis is a member of a class of drugs known as new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) that also includes Xarelto, Pradaxa and Savaysa. These drugs are used to treat various health conditions, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVTs), which is when a clot forms in the legs and then breaks free and does tremendous damage to the patient’s body. If the clot enters the lungs, or forms in lungs to begin with, it can rupture the lung itself, resulting in patient’s lungs filling with blood. This often-fatal condition is know a pulmonary embolism (PE) and is another condition Eliquis has been approved to treat. Continue reading

February 12, 2016

New Robotically Assisted Hip Replacement Surgery Available

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the past few decades, there have been a lot of advances in surgery, and many of these advances have been the result of new technology available to assist surgeons. One major advancement that occurred in the 1990s was when doctors could use arthroscopy to perform joint surgery by making small holes with a drill instead of large open incisions used in traditional surgery.

A decade later, laparoscopes were commonly being used to allow doctors to perform surgery on a patient’s abdominal cavity without making a large cut. A laparoscopic gall bladder procedure greatly reduces the recovery time and risks associated with the procedure as compared to the older methods. Continue reading

February 10, 2016

Hip Replacement Surgery as Treatment for Arthritis

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent news feature form WBAL TV looks at a total hip replacement procedure as a treatment for arthritis. The article focuses on a common belief held by prospective patients that having hip pain is just a normal sign of getting older and something you with which you have to live.

However, orthopedic surgeons are saying they are variety of procedures available these days, and you should not have to simply resolve yourself to living with the pain for the rest of your life. It should also be noted that many who are more active and like to run are experiencing hip pain and arthritis at a much earlier age than they were in years past, due to the increased activity. Continue reading

February 5, 2016

Report: Listeria Outbreak Leads to Salad Mix Plant Shutdown

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from Cincinnati.com, a listeria outbreak, which has allegedly resulted in at least one death, has led to the complete shutdown of a Dole packaging facility in Springfield, Ohio that shipped the potentially contaminated salad mix to 23 states.

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said the salads have been confirmed as the cause of one death in the state of Michigan and the hospitalization of a dozen others across the United States. The cases of hospitalization have occurred in several states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. One of the listeria victims was as young as three years old and one was as old as 83. Continue reading

February 1, 2016

Testosterone Replacement Therapy Also Dangerous for Your Poker Game

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

As you are probably aware, testosterone replacement therapy has become very popular over the last ten years. While the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved testosterone replacement hormone in the 1970s, there were very few people taking the drug. The reason for this is because testosterone replacement therapy was only approved to treat a very rare medical condition known as hypogonadism.

Hypogonadism is a rare disease that involves male children and adult men with extremely low testosterone levels – to the point where it is causing a serious medical condition. This was a very rare disease in the 1970s, and it is still a rare disease in 2016. However, while the number of patients with a need for testosterone replacement therapy has not gone up, the number of men taking the drug has gone up over 400 percent to the point where hundreds of thousands of men are taking testosterone hormone on a regular basis. Continue reading

January 28, 2016

A Look at Xarelto Commercials

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent article from Digital Trends takes a look at the frequently aired Xaretlo commercial and the health issues surrounding the drug. In case you haven’t seen the commercial, which would indicate you do not watch any sporting events, and likely do not watch television at all, it stars Kevin Nealon from Saturday Night Live fame, legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, and NASCAR’s Brian Vickers all having a friendly game of golf.

As implausible as this scenario sounds, the next thing the group of close friends do is discuss how Xarelto has helped their lives. Vickers said he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg, and would require a blood thinning medication so he talked to his doctor about Xaretlo. He is even shown wearing a Xarelto sponsored racing uniform, though they are not actually his sponsor. It should also be noted that the fine print said Vickers had to stop racing while taking Xaretlo. Continue reading

January 25, 2016

Opioids May Be Linked to Lower Testosterone Levels

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While it is getting impossible to watch a sports even on television without seeing an add for testosterone replacement therapy, doctors do not know that much about the so-called medical condition of low testosterone, new research is suffering that a patient is significantly more likely to experience lower testosterone levels when he is taking prescription opioid based pain medications like Percocet according to a recent article from Renal & Urology News.

First, it should be noted that researchers at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of giant drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, conducted this study. As we have seen too many times in the past, some of these major drug manufacturers have been more interested in making huge profits than they are in patient safety. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that failure to warn patients and doctors of a known danger and defective design of a drug have been the basis for thousands of dangerous drug lawsuits. Continue reading