Merck & Co. faces multiple lawsuits

According to Consumer Drug Report, a drug information resource, pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. is currently facing multiple lawsuits. Two women claim to have suffered osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), or “dead jaw”, after taking Fosamax® and have filed lawsuits against Merck. Opening statements were heard on March 1, 2012.

According to Merck, the two women suffered from medical conditions that cause jaw injuries prior to taking Fosamax and maintain that Fosamax did not cause their injuries.

In addition to the claims brought forth by women who have suffered osteonecrosis after taking Fosamax, women have made claims that Fosamax causes atypical femur fractures. According to their complaints, spontaneous femur fractures would occur during normal activities such as walking or jogging.

There are two separate multidistrict litigation trials for Fosamax lawsuits. All femur fracture lawsuits are currently consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and all osteonecrosis lawsuits are consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Southern Court for the Southern District of New York.

Merck introduced Fosamax in October of 1995 for the treatment of osteoporosis, a chronic bone condition that causes bones to become weak and fragile. Fosamax is included in a class of drugs known as bisphosphonates, which are bone strengthening medications.

In addition to Fosamax, Merck also manufactures a drug known as Vytorin® which helps lower the amount of cholesterol and involves a combination of Zocor® and Zetia®. Vytorin is a competing drug to Zocor and is much more expensive.

A shareholder lawsuit was filed against Merck claiming that Merck jointly marketed Vytorin, with the help of Schering-Plough Corp., as being more effective than Zocor and concealed the results of a study that showed otherwise. The lawsuit was settled and Merck agreed to pay $5.1 million to cover plaintiff fees.

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Victims continue to sue Merck for Fosamax® femur fractures

Consumer Drug Report recently reported a case filed by another victim of Fosamax femur fracture injuries. According to the drug risk information resource, a woman by the name of Reba Inez Patton and her husband Patrick Patton filed a claim alleging that bisphosphonate medication, Fosamax and Boniva®, caused her to suffer from a low-energy femur fracture in December 2010. The fracture is a rare form of bone injury which may occur with little or no trauma to the victim.

The Fosamax lawsuit was filed on December 15, 2011 against drug maker Merck & Co., maker of Fosamax, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), maker of Boniva, in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

The complaint filed by the Patton’s alleges that both Merck and GSK falsely marketed the medications, which are designed to strengthen bones in women diagnosed with osteoporosis, claiming that the companies failed to provide sufficient warnings of the femur fracture risks.

Due to the femur fracture injuries, Mrs. Patton suffers severe and permanent damage requiring ongoing medical care.

Thousands of Fosamax femur fracture lawsuits have been filed against Merck & Co. all of which make similar allegations that the drug company failed to properly warn of the risks associated with long term use of Fosamax.

Fosamax was designed to treat osteoporosis, a chronic condition in which bones become brittle and break. The Food and Drug Administration approved Fosamax in October of 1995. Since its approval, over 20 million patients have taken the medication. The drug grew in popularity and prior to the release of a generic, Fosamax brought in revenues of $3 million.

All lawsuits filed against Merck have been consolidated as part of a multidistrict litigation and is centralized in the U.S. District court for the District of New Jersey.

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Fosamax® linked to multiple side effects

Fosamax is now being linked to multiple side effects according to the resource for drug information site Consumer Drug Report. According to the report, Fosamax, a bisphosphonate drug designed to treat osteoporosis, is being linked to a number of adverse side effects.

Victims who have taken the medication say that injuries associated with Fosamax use include osteonecrosis (ONJ), also known as “dead jaw”, atypical femur fracture injuries, atrial fibrillation, and esophageal cancer.  

Merck & Co., manufacturer of Fosamax, claims that these side effects were questionable during their own clinical trials. The company also released a statement, countering arguments that the drug causes ONJ, which said “In worldwide post-marketing experience with Fosamax, Fosamax Plus D, rare reports consistent with osteonecrosis of the jaw have been received. Many of these reports lack sufficient clinical details to make definitive assessments or are confounded, particularly since a generally accepted definition of ONJ in the general population is unknown."

Fosamax attorneys have filed Fosamax lawsuits on behalf of victims affected by the injuries allegedly caused by Fosamax. Merck now faces thousands of lawsuits all involving similar allegations that the manufacturer failed to properly warn about the risks associated with the medication. The company is also accused of falsely marketing Fosamax for the treatment of osteoporosis.

These lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation and centralized in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

In October 2010, the Food and Drug Administration mandated that Merck update the product with new warning labels displaying the risk of femur fractures associated with Fosamax use.

Fosamax was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in October of 1995. It was approved to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Over 20 million patients have been prescribed Fosamax since its approval and it generated $3 million per year in sales prior to the release of a generic version.

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Attorneys Designated to PSC Intended for Fosamax Femur Multidistrict Litigation

This past October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated updated labeling information with regard to Fosamax in order to advise of your chance of atypical femur breaks. The notice has been based in research which demonstrates a connection among long term use of the medicine, most commonly prescribed to post-menopausal women for the prevention of osteoporosis, and femur bone injuries that can arise after little if any impact. In accordance with the Fosamax prescription medication manual, an individual really should get in touch with their physician immediately when experiencing completely new or uncommon hip, groin, or perhaps thigh soreness.

The judge presiding over the Fosamax lawsuits for femur fractures multidistrict litigation (MDL) just lately designated the committee of law firms to take action with respect to plaintiffs suing drugmaker Merck & Company due to its medicine's propensity to cause irregular thigh bone cracks.

If you have suffered a femur crack that you believe is linked to Bisphosphonate, you need to get in touch with us right away. Through a lawsuit against Merck, you could be in a position to recoup monetary reparations for your health-related expenses, lost pay, as well as other damages, but you risk receiving nothing at all without professional representation.

Multidistrict litigation is really a procedural mechanism that enables individuals with similar legal claims versus a common defendant to be able to consolidate their own lawsuits with the purposes of increased performance as well as resource conservation. In May a Alendronate femur bone fracture MDL had been set up by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) in answer for the increasing amount of problems that this bone-strengthening medicine Fosamax leads to low-impact femur fractures, a type of leg injury that may happen following accidents from standing height or perhaps less. Thus far, approximately sixty plaintiffs currently have accused Merck of failing to sufficiently study and give warning of the possible Fosamax side effects.

Overseeing the consolidated Alendronate legal cases is Examine Garrett E. Brown, Junior.  He is in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. On July fourteen The Judge appointed ten attorneys to a PSC. The people in this board will behave as liaisons for the additional Bisphosphonate femur law firms that represent plaintiffs inside the MDL and are responsible for coordinating the actual litigation versus Merck. Their obligations include things like planning discovery and also proceedings, callings group meetings involving plaintiffs' counsel, as well as discussing together with Merck's legal professionals.

If you need help with a legal case, Fosamax lawsuit attorneys are standing by to answer your questions.

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Fosamax Lawsuits Moving Forward

Fosamax femur break cases, centered on allegations that bisphosphonate-class osteoporosis medicines such as Fosamax, Boniva, and Actonel lead to weak, brittle bones, have been combined in a federal district court in New Jersey.  Under this Multi-District Litigation ("MDL") structure, the Judge, Garrett E. Brown, Jr., will be presiding over these lawsuits.

Judge Brown is a U.S. District Court judge. Just recently, Judge Brown designated some attorneys to serve as leaders for the MDL. Fosamax lawyers at the Spangenberg Law Firm have indicated that these lawyers will probably be in charge of helping to form the course of litigation on issues such as discovery along with other duties. (Attorneys with the Spangenberg Law Practice (877-696-3303) have been recently in these kinds of leadership roles in past MDL actions, most recently serving as the "liaison counsel" between the Court and the Plaintiff's Steering Committee in the Gadolinium/NSF trials.)

These attorneys will perform certain actions during the coordinated pretrial litigation that will help all of the plaintiffs that have filed a lawsuit over a broken femur from Fosamax.

In May, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all complaints relating to fractured bones on Fosamax will be moved to Judge Brown. The lawsuits involve very similar allegations that negative effects involving Fosamax escalate the danger associated with atypical femur fractures, which may happen with little or no trauma at all.

Plaintiffs argue that bisphosphonate manufacturers made a defective item, and failed to properly alert customers of these types of dangers. The FDA demanded new warnings about the risk of Fosamax thigh bone breaks in October 2010, and a growing quantity of Fosamax attorneys through the entire United States have already been reviewing and filing lawsuits since that time on the part of those who suffered a sudden femur break while taking the medication.

Those who have suffered from a femur break after using bisphosphonates for 3 or more years really should contact a Fosamax lawyer to guard their rights.

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