Mass Torts
Dangerous Drugs, Devices, & Products

Actos is popular medication created to treat people with Type 2 Diabetes by controlling glucose.

After becoming the top-selling drug for this particular treatment, researchers discovered that people on Actos experienced an increased risk of bladder cancer than similar drugs.

Lawsuits were filed against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Actos, for failure to test and design a safe medication, as well as disclose the associated risks on the label.

Although Actos labels include the increased rate of bladder cancer in patients, legal proceedings continue due to the inadequacy and inaccuracy of the new warning label.

Allergan textured breast implants, sometimes called “gummy bear” implants, are teardrop-shaped with a textured outer-shell that sticks to the soft tissue to appear more natural.

Unfortunately, Allergan textured breast implants are causing people to develop BIA-ALCL, which is a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that  compromises the immune system.

Researchers suspect some people are genetically pre-disposed to experience inflammation from the texturing that gradually leads to cancer, or that bacteria may be trapped in the crevices of the surface causing lymphoma.

Lawsuits have been brought against the manufacturers for defective design and failure to warn people about the risks associated with the implants.

Over 95% of medical devices like the Biomet hip is implanted into people’s bodies without being tested for effectiveness or safety.

People who have received the Biomet metal-on-metal hip replacements are experiencing issues cause by the metal head and cup rubbing together, causing the implant to release cobalt and chromium debris into the body.

As a result, patients are suffering from heart failure, metal poisoning, dead muscle and bones, vision loss, and other serious complications.

Biomet warned surgeons about these dangerous medical devices in Australia and Europe, but chose not to warn US surgeons to continue profiting from the sales.

Lawsuits have been brought against Biomet for failing to warn people about their dangerous hip replacement, defective and unsafe design, as well as negligence.

DePuy’s Pinnacle hip replace and Articular Surface Replacement, or ASR, uses metal-on-metal technology that promised long-lasting implants that resulted in disaster.

The friction between the metal parts caused metal ions to release into patients’ bodies, leading to serious complications and implant failures.

Documents revealed through lawsuits suggest that DePuy predicted the ASR hip would require a revision after around 5 years.

It was also revealed that DePuy’s parent company, Johnson & Johnson knew the ASR hip design was faulty, yet decided to keep it on market to continue making profits.

Hernia mesh was developed to treat patients with hernias by providing extra support to the damaged or weakened area via a small piece of netting.

Unfortunately, many types of hernia mesh have proven to be defective, causing harm and injury to people around the United States.

Injuries patients have suffered from dangerous hernia mesh include: migration of the mesh, balling up, rejection of mesh by the body, pain, infection, recurrent hernia, intestinal blockage, bleeding, adhering to nearby organs, fluid build up, and many other conditions.

Lawsuits have been filed against the manufacturers of hernia mesh for defective design, manufacturing defect, failure to warn people about the potential dangers, and medical malpractice.

Invokana is a medication designed to stop glucose from being reabsorbed into the blood in the kidneys for people with Type 2 diabetes. The kidneys secrete the sugar and this lowers glucose levels in the blood.

Invokana was created by Johnson & Johnson and was a new class of drug.

It was later discovered that people taking this drug developed diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious condition that occurs when the human body can’t use glucose as fuel due to little or no insulin.

Ketones start to build up in the body and become toxic. People who developed diabetic ketoacidosis as a result of Invokana were hospitalized. This drug is currently under close watch.

IVC filters, or inferior vena case filters, were created to catch blood clots in people’s veins to prevent pulmonary embolisms in patients that do not respond to or cannot take blood thinners.

Unfortunately, these medical devices have a high failure rate and are causing patients to experience bleeding, organ damage, and, in some cases, death.

These harms and losses are caused by the IVC filters breaking apart inside people’s bodies, causing metal parts to migrate and damage the heart, lungs, and lead to internal bleeding.

Lawsuits have been filed against the manufacturers of this dangerous medical device for failure to warn doctors and patients of the risks associated with IVC filters.

Juul targets teenagers in their marketing practices leading consumers into believing their product is a safe alternative to smoking.

On the contrary, Juul’s e-cigarette products are dangerous and Juul chose to hide the risks associated with its product-use from consumers.

As a result, Juul’s created an epidemic of youth smokers from its extremely addictive products and has also caused injuries like popcorn lung and similar to teens and adults alike.

Other adverse side effects Juul’s failed to disclose to consumers include cardiovascular disease, nicotine poisoning, seizures, respiratory failure, and other complications.

Medtronic’s Infuse Bone Graft was developed to produce synthetic proteins in people’s bodies to stimulate bone growth.

Also approved in some use cases, Medtronic bribed doctors to use it in off-label cases to increase profitability.

Many complications ensued and resulted in people suffering harms, losses, and, in some cases, death.

Lawsuits have been brought against Medtronic for off-label use of the Infuse Bone Graft, biased financial relationships with doctors and Medtronic, lack of consent to operate the device in off-label cases.

Victims’ injuries from off-label use include severe and continuous pain, bone overgrowth, infection, need for additional surgeries, and economic losses.

Over 115 people in the United States die from opioid overdose or suffer from opioid addiction each day.

From 2000 to 2015 alone, over 500,000 opioid related deaths have been recorded in the US.

Lawsuits are being brought against the manufacturers of the drugs due to deceptive marketing and over-prescription of highly additive opioids for treatment of common pain conditions.

People with an opioid addiction often start using heroin when they are unable to obtain a prescription.

In October of 2017, the United States declared the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency.

Pradaxa is a blood thinner designed to reduce stroke risks in patients with AFib, or non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

Some people taking Pradaxa started experiencing fatal internal bleeding events.

These injuries and deaths led to the filing of lawsuits against Pradaxa to compensate the victims.

Increased risk for abnormal bleeding in Pradaxa users include people who, are 75 years or older, have existing kidney problems, have ulcers, and are on other blood-thinning medications.

Proton Pump Inhibitors, or PPIs, are drugs designed to treat people who suffer from heartburn, ulcers, or stomach damage from pain relievers.

Instead of neutralizing stomach acid, PPIs prevent the stomach from producing acid at all.

Unfortunately, Proton Pump Inhibitors started causing severe kidney damage in patients.

Lawsuits were filed again PPI manufacturers for failure to warn people of the associated risks of taking the drug, which include: kidney disease, kidney failure, kidney injury, and acute interstitial nephritis, or (AIN.)

Popular brands of proton pump inhibitors still on the market despite ensuing litigation include Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium, and Dexilant.

Risperdal was created by Ortho-McNeil-Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to treat adults suffering from schizophrenia.

After hitting the shelves, Risperdal was widely prescribed to children with autism, bi-polar disorder, and other similar behavior disorders.

The drug had not been approved for use in children, and as a result, many children were afflicted with serious side effects including gynecomastia,

For over 30 years, the manufacturer of Roundup, Monsanto, has known a link existed between people with high exposure to Roundup and cancer.

Despite that knowledge, Monsanto decided to continue to sell Roundup and allege that was safe for both people and pets.

As a result, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto to compensate the victims who have died or are currently suffering from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and  other types of cancer.

The people most at risk of developing cancer as a result of Roundup are farmers, landscapers, and workers in garden and nursery centers.

Metal-on-metal hip replacements, like Smith & Nephew device, promised long-lasting relief for people with hip issues.

Instead, metal-on-metal ambulatory implants are causing metallosis and other serious conditions.

As a result, lawsuits have been filed against Smith & Nephew, and many other metal-on-metal hip replacement manufacturers, for failing to test metal-on-metal hips in human bodies and failing to warn people about the potential risks.

In 2007, Smith & Nephew paid around $28.9 million dollars to resolve an issue with the federal government involving a the company paying doctors kickbacks to use their devices.

Stryker hip implants were designed to relieve hip pain by replacing hip sockets and fusing to people’s bones via stimulating bone growth.

Unfortunately, the implants are releasing toxic metal ions into people’s bodies, causing loosening of the device, tissue damage, and other severe conditions.

Hip replacements should last decades, but Stryker’s hip replacement devices are only lasting months in some cases.

This has led to many lawsuits against Stryker for failure to adequately design and manufacture a device that would not corrode, deteriorate, and cause severe metal toxicity in patients.

Stryker Triathlon Total Knee System was designed as an option for people needing a total knee replacement, promising to relieve pain, allow natural circular motion, and restore function.

With the knee replacement system, Stryker issued the ShapeMatch Cutting Guide that unfortunately caused a lot of inaccurate bone cuts in patients.

People with Stryker knee implants are receiving ill-fitted knees, suffering from pain, disability, joint instability, nerve damage, looseness, and other serious conditions.

As a result, many lawsuits have been filed against Stryker Orthopedics, for inadequately designing the device and cutting guide.

Surgical staplers and staples were designed as an alternative to stitches and sutures.

Unfortunately, patients have suffered from many severe complications from staplers misfiring during a procedure and other numerous risks.

Issues caused by staples include breaking during placement, allergic reactions, bacteria on staples causing infections, and the metal or plastic of staple leaching into the bloodstream.

Problems caused by the stapler include jamming during procedures causing blood loss, firing with too much force causing tissue damage, firing with too little force preventing proper sealing, firing inaccurately, and firing accidentally.

Lawsuits have been filed against stapler and staple manufacturers for defective device design, manufacturing, and failure to warn people about the associated risks.

Johnson & Johnson knew usage of talcum powder correlated with forms of female reproductive cancer and decided to hide this from people for several decades.

Products that contain talcum powder have been linked to respiratory conditions and different forms of cancer.

As a result, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson to compensate victims who have died or are suffering from ovarian and other types of cancer.

New studies from the Cancer Prevention Research journal show a 20-30% increase in risk of women developing ovarian cancer who use talcum powder.

Taxotere is a chemotherapy drug created to prevent cancer cells from growing and dividing to treat breast cancer, advanced stomach cancer, metastatic prostate cancer and similar.

It was later discovered that Taxotere was causing permanent hair loss in people, while similar drugs like Taxol that are more effective than Taxotere, were not.

Lawsuits have been brought against Taxotere for failing to warn people about the risk of permanent alopecia, or hair loss.

Truvada is a drug created to decrease risk of people with pre-exposure prophylaxis from getting HIV-1 during sex, to help treat infections, and to prevent other infections or cancers stemming from HIV or AIDS.

There are two types of HIV medications: TDF and TAF.

Depsite knowing that TAF drugs are safer, Gilead Sciences delayed their release of a safe TAF drug to boost sales of Truvada, a TDF drug.

TDF medications cause serious conditions like kidney injuries, renal failure, bone fractures, osteoporosis, and other related orthopedic injuries.

Lawsuits have been filed against Gilead Sciences for their negligence in pushing a dangerous drug.

Uloric was a medication manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals as an alternative option for people suffering from gout caused by hyperuricemia.

Unfortunately, people taking Uloric started experiencing heart attacks, strokes, and in some cases, death.

A former employee of Takeda Pharmaceuticals filed a whistleblower lawsuit exposing the company’s knowledge of patients’ increased risks of liver, kidney, and bone marrow failure when taking Uloric.

Lawsuits have been filed against Takeda Pharmaceuticals for failure to warn the public about the risks associated with taking Uloric.

Vioxx was a popular drug that hit the market it 1999 created to treat people suffering from arthritis.

In 2004, the manufacturer of Vioxx, Merck & Co. took it off the market due to research showing a link between the drug and thousands of fatal heart attacks.

A senior FDA investigator stated before its removal in 2004, Vioxx injured hundreds of thousands of people, one-third of them resulting in death.

Lawsuits have been brought against Merck & Co. for denying claims of increased cardiovascular events early on and for misconstruing findings to continue profiting off the dangerous drug.

Xarelto is a blood thinner developed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals prescribed to treat deep vein thrombosis and to decrease the risk of stroke from blood clots.

After several years on the market, research found that Xarelto’s deadly side effects greatly outweigh its benefits.

People prescribed Xarelto have experienced severe, uncontrollable bleeding events that have resulted in gastrointestinal bleeds that led to blood transfusions, hospitalization, and death.

Over 20,000 lawsuits have been filed by victims of Xarelto. If you or a loved one has experienced severe, uncontrollable bleeding from Xarelto, you may be entitled to compensation.

Xeljanz is a drug created by Pfizer to treat people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.

Patients taking Xeljanz started experiencing bloods clots.

Further research found that Xeljanz increases risk of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolisms, and, in some cases, death in patients taking the drug.

As a result, lawsuits have been filed against Pfizer for failing to warn the public about the risks associated with taking Xeljanz.

Zantac is a brand of ranitidine, which is a medication for people who experience heartburn.

In 2013, the FDA discovered a cancer-causing contaminant in Zantac known as NDMA, or N-nitrosodimethylamine.

NDMA is used in cancer research in rats, rocket and airplane fuel, and can be found as a by-product in gasoline refinement processes.

Since this discovery, victims from around the country have brought lawsuits against the Sanofi and Boerhringer Ingelheim for manufacturing and marketing a dangerous product.

If you have been taking Zantac and were diagnosed with cancer, give us a call for a free consultation.

Zofran was manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline for people undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy to decrease nausea and vomiting.

It’s also been used as treatment for morning sickness from pregnancy off-label and eventually became the leading prescription for morning sickness.

People began bringing lawsuits against GlaxoSmithKline because the drugs were causing babies to experience birth-defects like structural heart defects, cleft palates, and cranial defects.

Lawsuit proceedings revealed that testing was never done on the medication’s effects on pregnant women and their babies.

Zostavax is a vaccine created by Merck & Co Inc. Pharmaceuticals to decrease people’s risk of coming down with shingles, the second phase of the chickenpox virus.

The vaccine was designed to introduce a weak dose of the virus to allow the body to fight it off and strengthen the immune system’s ability to defend itself against the virus.

Unfortunately, Zostavax has only been proven to work 50% of the time, and when it does work, it’s only effective for about 6 years.

In other patients who have compromised immune systems, Zostavax actually causes patients to develop chickenpox or shingles, and other serious conditions like brain damage, paralysis, liver failure, and more.

Lawsuits have been filed against Merck & Co Inc. Pharmaceuticals for creating a dangerous vaccine.