Bad Drug

Published on: June 15, 2020

Zantac And Cancer: Court Indicates It Will Study Relationship

We are closely following developments in the Zantac (Ranitidine) injury litigation. In recent months, our office has started investigating numerous potential cancer injury cases involving the drug.

What makes Zantac dangerous? How is Ranitidine (as Zantac is known generically) linked to numerous cancers? For detailed information, you can read a couple articles I’ve written on the drug and its link to cancers. You can find them here:

Zantac Cancer Lawsuits – You can find this article in the Hot Topics section of our law firm website. It is a lengthy article where I discuss the drug, how it works and its association with potential cancer. As I discuss in the article, Zantac contains NDMA which is a highly carcinogenic compound.

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Published on: May 11, 2020

Does The Weight Loss Drug Belviq Cause Cancer?

By Jeff Blackwell

Weight Loss Drug Health Risks

Does the drug Belviq cause cancer? Are patients being injured by this medication? Recent research casts a big shadow over this drug. We are closely watching current developments.

What Is Belviq? Why Was It Marketed?

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Published on: May 4, 2020

Does Vaping Increase The Risk Of Coronavirus?

By Jeff Blackwell

Does vaping make you more vulnerable to severe infection from the novel coronavirus? This is a question asked by many medical researchers.

Emerging Studies Indicate Vaping Increases The Risk Of Severe Coronavirus Problems

Some doctors on the front lines of coronavirus treatment believe vaping may be a factor in the rising number of young people hospitalized for serious coronavirus issues. How does vaping affect the human body to create coronavirus risks?

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Published on: August 13, 2018

Do Kickbacks Drive The Sale Of Dangerous Drugs And Medical Devices?

By Jeff Blackwell

I remember listening as the doctor testified about his trips to Las Vegas. That’s where the medical device company took him to “discuss” its product. After these trips to Las Vegas, the doctor returned home and began implanting the product into countless Alabama patients.

At the time, I was surprised. Shocked. But, that was also the first time I had deposed an implanting doctor in one of these cases. In the years since, I have seen far too many instances of drug and device companies trying to tempt physicians into prescribing or implanting certain products.

In some cases, the physician may not even be fully trained in the potential issues of the drug or product at issue. I think this is an issue with transvaginal mesh implants. These products were heavily marketed to local physicians and regularly implanted in women. Yet, the potential problems from mesh implants can be tremendous. When problems occur, the same implanting physicians are often unable to help. I recently deposed a surgeon at a major research hospital who has tried to help one of my clients suffering from implanted mesh. Here is what that specialist said:

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Published on: October 30, 2017

Are Doctors Taking Diabetic Patients Off Invokana After Latest FDA Warning?

By Jeff Blackwell

A new research article asks if physicians are starting to move patients away from Invokana use? It’s a good question. On this blog, I’ve written about Invokana numerous times. For a detailed history of the drug, you can read some of my past articles which are cited at the end of this post.

What is Invokana? The drug is in a class of medications known as sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Other drugs in this class include Farxiga, Jardiance, Glyxambi, and Xigduo XR. SGLT2 inhibitors work by altering kidney function to stop reabsorption of glucose into the blood stream.

Diabetes is a huge health problem in the United States. Here, in Alabama, we suffer one of the highest rates of diabetes. Diabetic patients need good medical care. What they do not need are pills that carry more risk than benefit. While we need medications, we need those medications to be tested and safe for use. That’s why the growing list of serious injuries associated with Invokana is an important issue to Alabama patients (and a frequent topic of this blog).

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Published on: October 23, 2017

Are Medical And Legal Articles Trustworthy?

By Jeff Blackwell

A recent study estimated a significant percentage of medical studies are ghostwritten. The really troubling detail — Up to half of all medical studies may be ghostwritten by companies with a financial interest in the research.

Next time you see or read a medical article listing a researcher or physician as the author, take a step back. Did the listed author really write the article? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe a drug company or medical device company funded and really authored the article.

Consider the revealing article published by former ghostwriter Linda Logdberg. The article is titled Being the Ghost in the Machine: A Medical Ghostwriter’s Personal View. How does Ms. Logdberg now feel about her former career?

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Published on: June 26, 2017

Dangerous Drugs: Side Effects Common After FDA Approval

By Jeff Blackwell

Recent research shows a dangerous problem with many newly approved drugs. Life-threatening side effects are common in the years following FDA approval. An article titled “Study: Side effects emerge after approval for many US drugs” details the new research. The article’s opening paragraph sums it up:

Almost one-third of new drugs approved by U.S. regulators over a decade ended up years later with warnings about unexpected, sometimes life-threatening side effects or complications . . .

This new study followed all prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2001 through 2010. The drugs flagged because of serious post-approval problems included medications for common medical problems such as arthritis, infections, blood clots and depression. The study’s lead author (an associate professor at Yale University) said “the large percentage of problems was a surprise.” As for me — I’m not surprised.

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Published on: October 17, 2016

Will Invokana Injury Cases Be Centralized?

By Jeff Blackwell

Our office has closely followed developments related to the diabetes drug Invokana. For more details on the medication and how it works, you can read a report under the Hot Topics section of our firm website. As we discuss on our website, Invokana is a relatively new diabetes drug manufactured by Johnson & Johnson. Yet, in just a few years on the market, the FDA has issued numerous safety communications about the drug.

Diabetic ketoacidosis.
Kidney damage.

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Published on: August 8, 2016

Will Taxotere Lawsuits Be Consolidated?

By Jeff Blackwell

We are currently investigating claims of permanent hair loss following the use of Taxotere, a chemotherapy drug. Taxotere is one of the most widely used drugs for breast cancer in the United States. For more information on the drug, you can read a detailed report on the Blackwell Law Firm website.

While cancer patients may expect temporary hair loss during chemotherapy treatment, they also expect their hair to regrow once treatment ends. For many patients, hair regrowth is a visible sign of victory over the disease. And, if hair regrowth does not occur, the physical and emotional impacts can be devastating.

Although expected to be temporary, many patients treated by Taxotere suffer permanent hair loss. These women had alternatives to Taxotere treatment. Other drugs provide similar success results. Yet, those other drugs do not leave many patients with permanent alopecia or baldness. For years, Taxotere’s manufacturer failed to warn doctors or patients in the United States of this harm. Patients had no knowledge of the risk and could not make an informed choice between available drugs. Although the manufacturer failed to warn patients, it knew the significant risk of injury. And, it continued to profit from sales to unsuspecting patients.

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Published on: July 8, 2016

Prominent Research Group Calls Invokana A Dangerous Gamble

By Jeff Blackwell

Our office has closely followed developments with the diabetes drug Invokana. Invokana is in a class of drugs known as sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. This is a relatively new class of drugs also including Farxiga, Jardiance, Glyxambi, and Xigduo XR. These drugs treat diabetes by altering kidney function to stop reabsorption of glucose into the patient’s blood stream. We have a page on our firm website discussing these drugs, how they work and their link to diabetic ketoacidosis. Despite being a new drug at the time we published our initial page, Invokana had already been linked to numerous adverse health reports. Since then, even more potential injury risks have emerged. You can read about these developments in several posts on this blog.

In its recent QuarterWatch report, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) calls Invokana a “dangerous gamble.” The ISMP report opens with the following paragraph:

The nation’s gamble in embracing new drugs for long-term use with only short-term clinical testing was most apparent in the rapid acceptance into clinical practice of a new class of oral diabetes drugs called sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. There are now three such agents, canagliflozin (INVOKANA), dapagliflozin (FARXIGA), and empagliflozin (JARDIANCE). Since approval, evidence of multiple safety problems has emerged.

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