Greedy Trial Lawyer
Blockbuster Lies Might Explain Explosion In Drug Lawsuits
Category: News Defused
The Los Angeles Times has examined the recent explosion of product liability lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical companies. The shocking bottom line - the business model of direct-to-consumer advertisements has produced the era of blockbuster drugs which, in turn, has created the potential for blockbuster liability.
May I add that lying, concealing and over-selling by drug companies might also be part of the explanation.
Los Angeles Times Examines 'Explosion' Of Rx Drug Product Liability Lawsuits
According to an analysis conducted for the Times by the research firm Thomson West, plaintiffs have filed more than 71,000 product liability lawsuits related to prescription drugs in federal courts since 2001, and they have filed "untold others" in state courts. Lawsuits related to prescription drugs currently account for more than one-third of all product liability lawsuits filed in federal courts, the analysis finds.Legal experts attribute the increase in product liability lawsuits related to prescription drugs in part to "fundamental changes in the pharmaceutical industry's business practices intended to boost sales and profits," the Times reports. Since the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies have increased sales through direct-to-consumer advertisements. "This business model begot the era of blockbuster drugs" but also established the "potential for blockbuster liability," according to the Times. For example, more than 20 million patients used the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx before Merck withdrew the medication from the market in September 2004 over safety concerns. More than 23,500 plaintiffs nationwide allege that Vioxx injured them or their family members (Girion, Los Angeles Times, 6/27).
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Comments
I took zyprexa which was ineffective for my condition and gave me diabetes.
Zyprexa, which is used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, accounted for 32% of Eli Lilly's $14.6 billion revenue last year.
Zyprexa is the product name for Olanzapine,it is Lilly's top selling drug.It was approved by the FDA in 1996 ,an 'atypical' antipsychotic a newer class of drugs without the motor side effects of the older Thorazine.Zyprexa has been linked to causing diabetes and pancreatitis.
Did you know that Lilly made nearly $3 billion last year on diabetic meds, Actos,Humulin and Byetta?
Yes! They sell a drug that can cause diabetes and then turn a profit on the drugs that treat the condition that they may have caused in the first place!
I was prescribed Zyprexa from 1996 until 2000.
In early 2000 i was shocked to have an A1C test result of 13.9 (normal is 4-6) I have no history of diabetes in my family.
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Daniel Haszard http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
Posted by: Daniel Haszard at July 8, 2006 01:03 PM