The medical journal The Lancet is chiming in on the Avandia debacle. Back in 2009, The Lancet published a paper about the RECORD study (funded by Avandia manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline) which was widely criticized. The major complaint is that the article did not include the drop-out rate—without knowing which patients went…
Two prominent Chicago orthopedic surgeons are calling for the recall of Zimmer’s NexGen CR-Flex Knee replacement devices. There has already been a recall of related devices to a part of the knee. The porous femoral component (that is, the part of the replacement that covers the head of the femur,…
The first federal Kugel Mesh hernia repair lawsuit began in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, yesterday. Plaintiff John Whitfield claims that the mesh, manufactured by Davol, Inc., was defective and broke after it was implanted, causing bowel obstruction, abdominal pain, nausea, permanent bowel injuries, and…
The Avandia debacle heats up, this time in the medical journal community. The editor of the premier medical journal, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has taken other journals to task for their methods of publishing articles. Using the Avandia RECORD study as the example of the conflicts…
If my Google Reader subscriptions are any indication, about 50% of the new blog posts across the web in the past couple of days have been about Avandia. This post is intended as a hub for basic information on Avandia and the status of the proposed Avandia recall. Indications: Avandia…
Two contrasting Accutane lawsuit updates in the news today: First, some background. Accutane is used to treat severe acne and has been associated with a host of problems: birth defects, inflammatory bowel disease, injuries to the liver, kidneys, nervous system, and pancreas, dermatological reactions, and even suicide. Roche stopped selling…
As you remember, Fosamax, Merck’s osteoporosis drug, is the subject of much litigation. The question presented is whether the drug causes osteonecrosis of the jaw, which is the death of jawbone tissue. Judge Keenan, ruling over the federal Fosamax cases from his bench in the U.S. District Court for the…
This is an old post with product liability statistics with a 2023 update with new 23 stats. Back in June (Statistics, Part I), we reported on the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, covering 2005 state court trials. Though official statistics have not been released by…
On the last day of December, Plaintiff Merle Simon received a stunning present. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania’s first level appellate court) decided in Simon v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, et al. that the trial judges grant of judgment notwithstanding the verdict in 2007 was erroneous. The trial judge’s opinion was…
The benefits of CT scans often outweigh the potential risks of radiation exposure. But it is important to understand the dangers involved. Every year, there are over 70 million CT scans performed in the United States, and the FDA is investigating cases of overexposure to radiation from these scans. The…