Actos injuries are not limited to bladder cancer.  People taking Actos may also be at increased risk of heart problems.  These include heart failure, heart disease, and heart attack.  Actos has also been associated with liver damage and kidney damage, as well as bone fracture.

If you have suffered any of these injuries while taking Actos, or if anyone you know has suffered, learn about your legal rights. An Actos lawyer can help determine whether you have a good case and whether an Actos lawsuit should be pursued.

The ingestion of Zoloft during pregnancy led eight different couples to parent children born with various birth defects, according to a recently filed lawsuit that name the drug’s manufacturer as a defendant.Hope Lower, Cindy and Gene Bendickson, Marianne Buneta and Jason Gultch, Monica and Roosevelt Jones, Carlisa and John Black, Mary Schulze, Norneesa Knowles and Sharon Jones and Antoine Bossier filed a lawsuit Nov. 4 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Pfizer.

Hydroxycut lawsuit

The makers of Hydroxycut have had legal problems for years now, but that hasn’t stopped them from filling up shelf space at Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and GNC.  Each lawsuit is followed by a reformulation of the product, until consumers suffer and the FDA catches up with them again and again.  This time, a Hydroxycut lawsuit made a major step forward as a federal court ruling allowed the class action against Iovate Health Sciences to proceed.

Iovate Health Sciences, maker of Hydroxycut diet supplement which is taken as a weight loss aid, are defendants in a Hydroxycut class action lawsuit that alleges their product caused liver damage and at least one death.

The FDA removed Hydroxycut from the market in 2009, but Iovate Health Sciences reformulated the product and now it’s basically a caffeine pill with some herbs mixed in.  The supplement company seemingly hopes to ride on the reputation of previous formulations of Hydroxycut, which then contained ephedra.

Ephedra was an ingredient  that became banned by the FDA because it triggered heart attacks and caused at least one death.   But from Ephedra to the next active ingredient that replaced Ephedra, garcinia cambogia, to the present formulation of caffeine and herbs, Iovate Health Sciences has maintained throughout that Hydroxycut is clinically proven to help people lose weight fast. Their claims are not backed up by any scientific studies and are completely over exaggerated, according to a former Iovate Health Sciences research director.

Depakote side effects include birth injuries or birth defects such as cleft palate, skull and face deformities, neural tube malformations, and cardiovascular malformations.  The FDA issued a warning in December 2009 on drugs containing valproate sodium, the main active ingredient in Depakote.  The FDA warning was over birth defects and warned against increased risk in women taking the drug during pregnancy.  Since there were no warnings and both patients and doctors were allegedly kept in the dark concerning birth injuries, Abbott Laboratories has been named in birth defects lawsuits.

Women who were prescribed Depakote during pregnancy for treatment of migraines may also participate in a birth defects lawsuit against the drug company.  Treatment for migraines is an off label use for Depakote, which means it was not FDA approved for this use, but doctors prescribed it anyway since it seemed to work.

Only some lots of the transdermal patch are affected by the Fentanyl recall, and no patches in Europe are being recalled.  The lots are of 25 mcg/h, but not all of them.  To find out which lots of the Fentanyl patch are being recalled, go to the website of the drug maker Avactis and there you will find a list of the lot numbers, which can be found on the the side of the package of patches.

Fentanyl is an opioid, a narcotic which is a Schedule 2 controlled substance.  Patients who receive Fentanyl are experiencing moderate to severe chronic pain.  They need round the clock pain killer relief and cannot get it from opioid combination products, non-steroidal analgesics, or immediate release opioids.

Some patients who experienced adverse effects after administration of the Fentanyl patch have pursued an individual Fentanyl recall lawsuit to recover medical costs and other loss encountered by a Fentanyl overdose.  A fentanyl class action lawsuit has yet to be formed.

Today’s amount set aside for legal costs totals $3.4 billion, and that comes no less than six months after another announcement of  billions of dollars worth of legal fees.  Last summer, GlaxoSmithKline announced that it would spend $2.36 billion for legal defense and ongoing Federal investigation over off label marketing charges and alleged doctor payments regarding Avandia and Paxil.

That means the GlaxoSmithKline class action and Federal investigations in the United States have so far cost the company $5.76 billion in legal fees, settlements, and other legal costs.

Avandia was once the top selling diabetes drug in the world, but has fallen off since discovery of possible serious health concerns.  In 2007 a doctor’s analysis revealed a 43% increase in risk of heart attack in patients taking Avandia.  Since then, GlaxoSmithKline class actions have been on the rise.  And judging from today’s announcement, GlaxoSmithKline doesn’t see an end to legal woes anytime soon.

GlaxoSmithKline also faces allegations of marketing Avandia for treatment of things for which it was not FDA approved.  Doctor payments for promoting Avandia are also under investigation, as this practice is against the law in the United States.  The British drug company is facing GlaxoSmithKline class action in the US as well as legal woes in the UK.  The FDA has severely restricted use of AVandia and in Europe it has been banned altogether by the European Medicines Agency.

The drug was approved by the FDA to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  It’s heavily marketed by Eli Lilly, and there is strong demand for the drug.  The marketing features impressive claims as to the effectiveness of the drug in treating the serious bipolar disorders and schizophrenia.  The Zyprexa class action claims that this marketing was exaggerated, which increased demand, which caused the price of the drug to go higher.

The Zyprexa class action was brought by plaintiffs representing unions, insurers, and pension funds who claim that the exaggerated advertising of the effectiveness of Zyprexa caused them to have to pay more for the drug.  In 2008, their case was granted class action status.  However, that ruling of status has just been overruled and the Zyprexa class action is no longer on the dockets in Federal court.

The Zyprexa class action status was denied because the individuals who purchased Zyprexa did not have enough in common with the insurers, pension funds, and unions who represented the other portion of the group of plaintiffs.  For a class action to be certified, the many plaintiffs must have enough in common for them to be represented together as a group.  This Fall, the Federal Appeals Court of New York overturned the class action status of the Zyprexa lawsuit, about two years after the status had been granted to the case.  Members of the Zyprexa class action plaintiffs had been, among others, the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund and a group that represent retired NY police sergeants and their families.

On the other hand, Fentanyl has caused tragedy and horror to others, who unsuspectingly suffered a Fentanyl overdose due to faulty delivery systems.  The Duragesic brand patch system of delivering Fentanyl through the skin had some problematic batches that caused a hole in the reservoir of the patch, causing too much drug to enter the systems of patients, who died as a result.  The Fentanyl overdose lawsuit that took place after each case raised heads around the country in the medicine world, as well as the legal system.

Millions of dollars have been awarded to plaintiffs who brought Fentanyl overdose lawsuits in the past few years.  The first suit was in 2003, involving the death of a man who overdosed on the Fentanyl patch.  The Duragesic patch, now involved in so many Fentanyl overdose lawsuits, was first introduced in the 1960s.  It was used as a general anaesthetic,   and not until the 1990s was Fentanyl administered via a patch.   But it was not until the turn of the century, early 2000s, that Fentanyl became a prescription drug, which meant really widespread use.   Now there is also a Fentanyl  lollipop and a spray.

Fentanyl is quick-acting and highly addictive.  It’s an opioid, and works on the brain censors causing a state of euphoria.  Fentanyl has the ability as a chemical to pass quickly from the blood to the brain, hence the quick-acting component that makes it a useful and popular drug with doctors.  It’s used in the operating room, intensive care units, cancer pain, and chronic pain management.  Dentists also use it in root canal procedures.  Patients who cannot take morphine, hydromorphone or oxycodone will be prescribed Fentanyl.

With these new and wider-range uses of Fentanyl, and more prescriptions which means more of the drug in personal situations and in households, there have been more Fentanyl overdose lawsuits these past five years or so.  The Duragesic patch that malfunctioned was recalled in 2004 but lawsuits continue.

Darvon is prescribed for mild to moderate pain and when combined with acetaminophen, is called Darvocet.  There is also a Darvocet recall, also recommended by the FDA and carried out by the manufacturer Xanodyne.

Propoxyphene, the main ingredient in both Darvon and Darovocet, is an opioid and was first approved by the FDA in 1957.  Starting in 1978, however, hints of problems with the drug began to emerge, and various groups over the years have asked the FDA to review or even suggest a Darvon recall.  These past worries were tied to the potential for fatal overdose, but in all cases the FDA concluded that the benefits of the painkiller outweighed the risks.

In 2009 the FDA told Xanodyne to put warnings on the boxes of Darvon and Darvocet, indicating risk of fatal overdose.  They also required Xanodyne to perform studies on effects of propoxyphene on the heart.  The results of the study are what have caused to the FDA to issue the current voluntary Darvon recall.

Darvon, Darvocet, and generics are to be recalled.  The FDA has sent notice to the makers of the generic versions of the pain killers, informing the companies of Xanodyne’s decision to cooperate with the Darvon recall.  It is expected that the generic manufacturers will follow suit.

Propoxyphene was found to be linked to heart problems in the studies performed by Xanodyne in 2009 and 2010.  Specifically, it is believed to cause heart rhythm abnormalities, which can be serious if not fatal.  Last month’s Darvon recall will have great effect on some patients, who have been taking the drug for a long time.

Both companies may soon face a painkiller recall lawsuit, if history tells us anything.  Johnson & Johnson is the owner of McNeil Consumer Healthcare Products, the actual manufacturer of products recalled, such as Tylenol, Children’s Tylenol, and Motrin.  These products were found to have a sickening moldy smell when the packages were opened.  The smell was traced to a plant in Puerto Rico, where a chemical used to treat wooden pallets was leaching into the air.  Tylenol products around the globe have been recalled due to the unpleasant smell, and new rounds of recalls surface every few weeks after more tainted bottles are found.

Johnson & Johnson is also facing legal problems as well as social outcry after paying tens of millions of dollars to nursing homes.  The kickback money was in exchange for prescribing their schizophrenia drug Risperdal.

In other painkiller recall lawsuit news, Xanodyne may face legal issues in the new year, after its prescription opioid painkiller Darvon and Darvocet were found to be linked to heart problems.  Although the company has known for years that there is risk of fatal overdose with using Darvon and Darvocet, it remains unclear whether they had known of any possible links between their drugs and serious heart problems.  The actual risky ingredient is propoxyphene, which was approved by the FDA way back in 1957.  Problems tied to fatal overdose were reported as far back as the late 1970s but the FDA decided that the painkilling benefits were so great that the risk of fatal overdose was worth it.  Not until last month, when  propoxyphene was linked to possible heart rhythm abnormalities, were the drugs recalled from the shelves.