For the Plaintiff Blog

Stephen Hunt October 22nd, 2008

(Birmingham, AL)  Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. is facing more pressure to strengthen its warnings about the number of serious, and sometimes fatal, injuries caused by its heavily marketed smoking cessation drug CHANTIX (varenicline). Independent investigators working for the non-profit organization Institute for Safe Medication Practices recently released their analysis of adverse event reports.  According to the experts, Chantix accounted for more reports of serious injuries than any other prescription drug for a second consecutive quarter.  Specifically, Chantix accounted for a total of 1001 new cases including 50 additional deaths reported in one quarter.

The FDA has already required Pfizer to strengthening the information contained in the drug label.  The Federal government banned the use of Chantix by pilots and air traffic controllers but the new report urges the FDA and Pfizer to add a prominent warning about accident risks to the patient medication guide and prescribing information for doctors.

“We have been investigating claims on behalf of Chantix victims for more than a year now and independent scientist appear to agree … Chantix was not adequately studied before it was rushed to the market and innocent consumers are at significant risk of serious injury,” said attorney Kristian Rasmussen of Cory Watson Crowder and DeGaris.  Rasmussen continued, “Pfizer should feature a guinea pig instead of a tortoise in its advertisements for Chantix.” 

Kristian Rasmussen said he agrees with experts advocating for patients.  “The public needs to know all of the risks and benefits associated with using a drug like Chantix “.  Lawyers in Rasmussen’s office have fielded more than 2,300 calls from Chantix victims.  Rasmussen said he has assembled a team of experts and lawyers to prosecute Chantix claims and currently represents claims that have cases pending across the country. 

Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris is recognized nationally for its practice in mass torts litigation, multidistrict litigation and complex litigation including class actions, products liability, business and securities litigation, environmental litigation and mass torts litigation of defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

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Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris October 15th, 2008

(Birmingham, AL)  A Federal lawsuit filed in Birmingham, Alabama July 18, 2008 charges pharmaceutical company Actavis Totowa with manufacturing and distributing defective Digitek heart drug pills that contained dangerously excessive doses of the drug’s active ingredient, digoxin, causing life-threatening adverse drug reactions . Digitek is typically prescribed to treat irregular heartbeat or heart failure. The Federal suit, filed in the wake of an FDA Digitek recall, alleges defective Digitek contained amounts of digoxin exceeding the dose set forth on the label and in some cases exceeding the dose approved for medical treatment in humans.

The litigation, brought by a Talladega woman and her husband, alleges defective Digitek pills caused her to suffer digitalis toxicity, a sometimes lethal reaction to an overdose of digoxin. The suit claims the victim’s adverse reaction included a drop in heart rate into the low 30’s, blindness, confusion and incoherent speech. The suit claims the woman was hospitalized for more than one month and underwent surgery to implant an artificial heart pacemaker to treat permanent heart damage believed to be caused by Digitek overdose.

The victim’s injury occurred only a few weeks prior to April 25, 2008 when the FDA announced a nationwide recall of all Digitek tablets because of the potential that the tablets were double the appropriate thickness and contained up to twice the approved level of the active ingredient. The suit claims the victim was prescribed Digitek and unwittingly ingested defective tablets that contained harmfully high levels of the active ingredient.

The suit  blames Actavis for failing to heed FDA warnings in July and August of 2006 and February of 2007, that many of the drug products that were produced, manufactured and released to the public by Actavis were adulterated and as a result the drugs were not “the identity, strength, quality and purity they purport to possess.”

“What makes this so tragic is the Digitek debacle could have been prevented had Actavis taken appropriate measures in response to the FDA warnings”, said Ryan Lutz, pharmaceutical litigation attorney with the law firm Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris of Birmingham, Alabama.  Lutz and Rick DiGiorgio of Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris are representing the victim.

The suit charges the drug maker knew or should have known about the manufacturing and production defects and that the recalled Digitek was adulterated, misbranded, defective, unreasonably dangerous and unfit for its intended uses.  “Despite the undeniable knowledge, Actavis placed tens of thousands of patients, including our client, unnecessarily at risk of catastrophic injury and death,” said Lutz.

Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris is recognized nationally for its practice in mass torts litigation, multidistrict litigation and complex litigation including class actions, serious personal injuries, products liability, business and securities litigation, environmental litigation, defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

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Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris October 15th, 2008

Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris is representing people who died or suffered serious injury as a result of taking the popular smoking cessation drug Chantix, manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Pfizer is accused of failing to warn the public about potentially deadly side effects caused by the drug varenicline, marketed under the trade name Chantix. Chantix has been linked to suicide, depression, and major psychiatric side effects in some users, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, Chantix is suspected of being responsible for numerous other potentially devastating additional side effects including seizures, heart problems, diabetes and sudden loss of consciousness.

Lawsuits filed by Cory Watson blame Chantix for suicides and serious injury 

In a lawsuit filed against Pfizer by attorneys at Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris,  a Louisiana man claims Chantix caused him to suffer a seizure that made him lose consciousness and wreck his truck into the bayou. In another case, Chantix is blamed for the inexplicable suicide of a grandmother in the Midwest. Her family says the woman had not suffered from depression or other problems; they blame Chantix for the suicide. Chantix is also blamed for the suicide death of an Illinois man. That lawsuit against Pfizer claims the Illinois father of three began taking Chantix in October, 2007 and killed himself in January, 2008, weeks before Pfizer modified its packaging insert to acknowledge a suspected link between Chantix and serious psychiatric side effects including suicide.

 FDA investigates potential Chantix dangers

In November, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a Preliminary Assessment specifically highlighting the number of reports noting an association between suicide and attempted suicide within days to weeks of initiating Chantix treatment . But it wasn’t until the FDA issued a more strongly worded warning in February, 2008  that Pfizer modified its package insert to indicate that all patients being treated with Chantix “should be observed for neuropsychiatric symptoms including changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior.” Pfizer stopped short of acknowledging any causal link between Chantix and suicide or other psychiatric side effects.  On May 21, 2008 the FAA issued an immediate ban on Chantix use by pilots and air traffic controllers after reviewing findings of  the Institute for Safe Medication. Those findings raised red flags that Chantix may be responsible for a wide range of side effects including seizures and sudden loss of consciousness. Chantix is also off limits for commercial truck drivers and bus drivers, yet Pfizer is still not warning consumers that the drug may be linked to seizures and loss of consciousness. The VA is under fire for failing to warn Veterans who participated in Chantix studies that the drug has been linked to psychiatric side effects. U.S. Veterans returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of whom have post traumatic stress disorder, were given Chantix but were not warned that the drug can have deadly psychiatric side effects.

Critics claim Pfizer’s delay in issuing warnings was tantamount to choosing profits over patient safety. Chantix sales generated $883 million in revenues for Pfizer in 2007.  Critics charge Pfizer was trying to protect those profits when the drug maker dragged its heels in telling the public about the possible Chantix link to suicide and other potentially dangerous psychiatric side effects.

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admin October 2nd, 2008

Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris is representing clients who were seriously injured while driving or riding in Yamaha Motor Company’s popular “Rhino” All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV) .Our cases allege the Rhino may pose serious and life-threatening risks to both the operators and its passengers  because it is prone to rollover accidents resulting from defects in the Rhino design.

 We are interested in talking with you about referring your cases to us, or associating on these cases. Please contact our firm’s lead attorneys for this litigation:  Annesley DeGaris, Jason Shamblin, Doug Dellaccio or Jerome Tapley at rhino@cwcd.com or call us at (800) 852-6299.      

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