Practice Areas

• Defective Drugs
• Automobile Accidents
• North Carolina Workers' Compensation
• Disability Insurance - ERISA Attorney
• Social Security Disability
• Nursing Home Neglect
• Medical Malpractice, Hospital Malpractice, Professional Negligence
• Accident Attorney
• Dog Bite Attorney
• Insurance Disputes

News

North Carolina Legal News

Defective Drugs

• FDA: We Are Investigating Link Between Fosamax And Health Issues
  Jul 30, 2011

  Beginning in September, the United States Food & Drug Administration will form an Advisory Committee to research possible health risks associated with prescription oral bisphosphonates – drugs often used to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women or others with bone-related diseases and conditions.
  
  Some recent research has shown that the drugs, which include brand names like Actonel (sold by Sanofi and Warner Chilcott PLC), Boniva, (sold by Roche Holding AG), Fosamax (sold by Merck), and Reclast (sold by Novartis AG), may cause serious conditions, such as esophageal cancer and jaw problems. While a number of studies have linked bisphosphonate drug use to cancer and weakened bones over time, other studies have found that the osteoporosis drugs actually lower the risk of cancer or have no ill effects.
  
  In recent years, a number of defective drug lawsuits have been filed against the makers of Fosamax – most regarding rotting jaw or dead jaw after prolonged use of the drug. Last year, one woman who suffered severe jaw issues after using the bone-strengthening drug won $8 million in a dangerous drug lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Merck. In that case, the jury found that the drug company did not properly research the drug or properly warn patients of potential side effects.
  

• Mother Sues Drug Company After Teen Dies While Taking Yaz
  Jun 17, 2011

  A distraught mother is suing a drug company after she claims that her daughter died of from taking the birth control pill Yaz.
  
  According to national news sources, 18-year-old Michelle Pfleger, a freshman at Elon University in North Carolina, collapsed on her way to class last September. An autopsy revealed that she suffered a fatal blood clot that lodged in her lung and caused a heart attack. Her mother, Joan Cummins, believes that her daughter would be alive today if she had not been taking the birth control pill Yaz – and that the prescription drug ultimately caused the deadly clot. She was taking the pills to help an acne problem.
  
  Cummins is suing Bayer, the behemoth pharmaceutical company that produces the drug, for wrongful death. The defective drug lawsuit states that Yaz, also known as drospirenone, violates North Carolina consumer protection laws and that the drug is dangerous.
  
  This is far from the first time that Yaz and deep vein thrombosis have been linked – in fact, some believe that dozens of women have died from this health issue while taking the pill, and two studies have correlated the two. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is currently investigating the matter further and looking into whether the drug should have stronger warning labels or whether the drug should be pulled from the shelves altogether.
  
  

• Parents Across The Country Join Depakote Class Action Lawsuit
  May 15, 2011

  Dozens of people across the nation have joined together in a class action lawsuit against the makers of a seizure medication that they say caused severe birth defects in their children.
  
  The class action defective drug lawsuit was filed against Abbott Laboratories Inc., the makers of the seizure drug Depakote. All of the people in the lawsuit claim that they were prescribed the medicine during the first trimester of their pregnancy despite the fact that the main ingredient in the drug is valproic acid. Valproic acid has been found to cause serious birth defects in children when taken by expectant mothers. According to the lawsuit, the drug manufacturer has not clearly warned doctors who prescribe the medication that it is dangerous for pregnant women or women who could be pregnant to take the drug. More specifically, they have been accused of negligence and with marketing a defective drug.
  
  The antiepileptic and anticonvulsant drug is also sometimes used to treat severe depression, migraines, and bipolar conditions. The drug has been on the market for 25 years. Over the past few years, the drug has been linked to serious birth defects including included spina bifida, cleft palate, and heart issues. The FDA has even officially agreed that evidence exists that the drug causes birth defects, though they also say that the benefit of the drug may outweigh the risks.
  

• Man Sues After Parkinson’s Disease Drug Alters His Personality
  Apr 28, 2011

  Man Says Defective Drug Turned Him Into A Gay Sex Addict! The headline might sound outrageous, but the story might contain more than a little underlying truth. While it is probably specious to claim that any prescription drug can change one’s sexual orientation, it is completely possible for a defective prescription drug to change your behavior. In fact, though this man’s claims are extreme, hundreds of people who use the same Parkinson’s disease drug have reported troubling behavioral problems and personality changes after taking the drug.
  
  According to multiple news sources, 52-year-old Didier Jambart was a happily married man with a normal life until he began to take ReQuip in 2003, a drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline to treat Parkinson’s disease. However, soon after he began taking the drug, he states in a defective drug lawsuit, he started to compulsively have sex with men, cross-dress, and engage in dangerous sexual behavior. In addition, the man reported that his energy levels went through the roof, and that he would often need to get out of bed in the middle of the night to run.
  
  There is a documented history of the drug, also known as Ropinirole, causing bizarre behavioral changes in some of its consumers, such as uncontrolled spending and compulsive decisions, but the drug company that makes the drug only added a warning in 2006. While GlaxoSmithKline says that there is a small chance that the man had an extremely rare reaction to the drug, they do not believe that the drug as a whole is defective.
  

• Johnson & Johnson CEO Apologizes For Defective Drug Recall
  Oct 26, 2010

  Following a large number of recalls involving children’s medications, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson William Weldon delivered an apology and an admission of guilt from a prepared statement given to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
  
  Weldon admitted that his company had not met their high standards of quality, that they had put out a poor product, that they had prevent children from accessing important medicines, and that they had tried to secretly buy back defective drugs from stores before issuing the recall.
  
  Much of the committee hearing revolved around a phantom recall of Motrin medications in 2009 – a recall that Johnson & Johnson said it reported to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) but that they later admitted was done secretly.
  
  Weldon also announced that his company would once again begin selling some of the popular children’s products following the recall, which took place almost six months ago. The products, which will only be sold in limited quantities, include Children’s Tylenol and Children’s Liquid Tylenol. The products will not be manufactured in the United States – which factories have been shut down twice in recent years for violating federal regulations – but will rather be made in a Canadian facility. In addition, Johnson & Johnson plans to spend $100 million improving the quality and safety at their plants.
  
  Weldon was adamant that his company learns the hard lessons from the recent defective drug recalls and that similar happenings will never again happen in the future.
  

• FDA Panel: Avandia Does Raise Risk Of Heart Attack
  Aug 15, 2010

  A 33-member government advisory panel associated with the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) came to the conclusion this week that controversial diabetes drug Avandia does indeed raise the risk of heart attack in those who take, but that the drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline should be more tightly controlled by the FDA in the future. Generally, though the panel agreed that diabetes drug Actos was safer for those with possible heart heath issues, they were mostly unsure about whether or not Avandia should be pulled from shelves in order to protect consumers.
  
  Many members of the defective drug panel recommended a new warning label for Avandia, but stated that there was not enough conclusive evidence to warrant recalling the drug or stopping its production.
  
  Whether or not Avandia increase the risk of heart attacks has been questioned as far back as 2005, and the public’s use of the blood sugar drug has declined sharply over the years. The FDA expects that its findings will further depress sales, along with the fact that a similar but safer diabetes drug is already available. The most recent and most thorough study of the drug found that although Avandia significantly increased the chances of heart failure, it did not significantly increase the risk of patient death.
  
  The Avandia controversy is made even more complex because many believe that GlaxoSmithKline knew about the risks of taking their drug as long as a decade ago, but covered up the information.
  

• Hospira Recalls Another Drug – Second Recall in Six Months
  Apr 29, 2010

  Embattled drug company Hospira, Inc., is facing its second double drug recall in the last six months. Both defective drug recalls have involved the same two drugs: Propofol and Liposyn. Both drugs are sold to doctors and hospitals across the country: Propofol is used for anesthesia while Liposyn is an IV nutritional product.
  
  The voluntary recall of the two drugs took place on April 16, after the pharmaceutical company received a letter from the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the drugs’ contamination by particulates. The same two drugs were recalled by the FDA in October after an equipment failure damaged the drugs at their Clayton, North Carolina plant – and at this point, Hospira believe that the fact that the same two drugs were affected in both incidents in a coincidence.
  
  The FDA has voiced concerns about both the Hospira drug plant in Clayton, North Carolina and in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Specifically, the government drug agency was concerned with the facility’s failure to validate processes.
  
  Hospira has been working with the FDA to fix its drug manufacturing problems – and is in the midst of reviewing the overall operating processes of the company. While Hospira’s stock has fallen on news of the second recall in a year, the drug maker insists the two recalls will not significantly impact the company’s earnings or its financial goal for 2010.
  

• Advandia Issues Shed Light On Bigger Problems In Drug Industry
  Mar 31, 2010

  As the public looks into the recent controversy over the potentially dangerous diabetes drug Advandia, it is becoming clear that there are large issues with the drug industry, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, A team at the Mayo Clinic collected evidence that most of the favorable commentaries linked to the drug Adandia came from voices that had significant ties to the drug industry while voices of dissent came from those who would not profit from speaking out for the drug.
  
  About one-fourth of those with a favorable opinion of Advandia did not report their affiliation with the drug company that produces the product.
  
  Advandia, also known as Rosiglitazone, is an insulin sensitizer that helps diabetics cope with their disease. Released in 2006, the drug, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, sees sales of over $1 billion worldwide. However, recent studies have found that the drug might be tied to a very increased risk of heart attack and other heart problems. While the FDA believes that these studies might be inconclusive, and while the drug company has conducted its own studies that show the correlation doesn’t exist, many have stopped taking the drug and started questioning the overall practices of the drug industry.
  
  At this point in time, the FDA does not recommend that those taking Advandia stop taking their prescription, though those worried about the drug’s possible side effects should talk to their doctor and consider alternative treatments.
  

• AU Federal Court: Arthritis Drug Vioxx Doubles Heart Attack Risk
  Mar 31, 2010

  Problems continue to mount for drug maker Merck, who is now fighting a number of international legal battles regarding their defective arthritis drug Vioxx, which was taken off of the market amid controversy in 2004. Most recently, an Australian court has found Vioxx liable for one man’s heart attack and Merck could end up paying millions to 500 participants in a larger class action lawsuit. In this latest court decision, Graeme Peterson has been awarded $287,000 compensation after suffering a heart attack while taking the drug for arthritis pain.
  
  Vioxx was an anti-inflammatory drug and COX-2 inhibitor that was touted when first release in 1999 for helping patients with arthritis and other chronic pain without the common stomach problem side effects. At its height, 80 million people worldwide were taking Vioxx and it was one of the most popular choices for treating a range of chronic pain issues in patients.
  
  However, in 2004, a study was released showing that the arthritis drug doubled the chances of heart attack, making it the most widely-used prescription drug ever to be pulled off of the market for being defective. After the drug was deemed dangerous, Merck faced thousands of wrongful death lawsuits and product liability lawsuits as well as thousands of class action lawsuits around the world.
  
  Merck made $2.4 billion off of their drug Vioxx in the year before it was removed from the market. However, they have paid billions in legal fees and settlements in the years following the drug recall.
  

Automobile Accidents

• North Carolina Trucker Suffered Fatal Heart Attack Before Crash
  Jan 31, 2012

  An autopsy has revealed that a North Carolina trucker involved in a one-vehicle accident last week suffered a fatal heart attack in the moments before running off of the road off of a small crag or overhang.
  
  According to local news sources, 62-year-old Bobby Jay Whitner of Lincolnton, North Carolina, was driving a tractor-trailer southbound on Interstate 85 outside of Blacksburg when he suddenly swerved off of the road and into an embankment. Witnesses say that the trucker drove over the median, over the northbound lanes of I-85, and through a guardrail before coming to a rest at the bottom of a forty-foot embankment.
  
  State Police reported that Whitner was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the truck accident and that he was found strapped into the cab and dead at the scene of the crash by emergency responders.
  
  During the crash, the truck cab became unattached to the trailer, which was filled with recycled plastics. Cleanup crews removed the white powdered plastic substance from the road. The big rig was headed to Newton, North Carolina.
  
  The Raleigh truck accident attorneys at Brent Adams & Associates send their thoughts to the family and loved ones of Bobby Jay Whitner.
  

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