Pharmaceutical Liability

Manufacturers of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications may face legal liability if their products injure people. If you or someone you know suffered injury or death because of any dangerous drug, please contact MUELLER◊HILLIN for a free consultation.

View list of drugs with dangerous side effects.
Some drugs are simply “bad drugs,” that is, these medications have the potential to cause long-term damage because of a defect in design or error during the manufacturing process or they have somehow become tainted. The fact that a drug is approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is no guarantee of its safety. The FDA does not conduct independent tests on new drugs and is almost entirely dependent upon the manufacturer of the drug for the data necessary to demonstrate its safety. As result, bad drugs are often marketed to the public and prescribed by physicians before dangerous side effects are discovered or even fully researched.

Drug companies may be sued if someone has been injured or has died as a result of using a prescription drug or over-the-counter drug. There are various causes of action that may be brought against a drug manufacturer including negligence, misrepresentation, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, and strict products liability. Attorneys at MUELLER◊HILLIN are available to discuss your case and help to form a litigation strategy that maximizes your chance of recovery.

Drug products that are correctly designed and manufactured may still be dangerous if drug companies do not adequately warn of side effects associated with them. This failure-to- warn has been the focus of intense interest since the U. S. Supreme Court recently ruled that patients who are injured by a drug can sue the drug's manufacturer for damages, even if the drug has been granted FDA approval. In Wyeth v. Levine, the Court upheld $6.7 million in damages to a Vermont musician, Diana Levine, who had to have her arm amputated after Wyeth's Phenergan anti-nausea drug was injected using IV push administration and hit an artery causing gangrene. The Court held that Wyeth could have modified the label for Phenergan to strengthen the warning against IV push administration without violating federal law.

Many dangerous drugs have made news as the result of market recalls and or warnings issued by the FDA regarding the serious health risks and side effects associated with the medications. In recent years the makers of Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra and Baycol have been sued and consequently settled or are in the process of settling thousands of lawsuits filed on behalf of plaintiffs who suffered injury or death because of the serious health risks associated with these drugs. Litigation over dangerous drugs plays a critical role in exposing the pharmaceutical industry’s misconduct in marketing and selling unsafe drugs.

On November 8, 2007, Merck announced that it would pay $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits filed on behalf of people or family members who suffered injury or died after taking Vioxx. After a clinical trial proved that Vioxx increased the risks of heart attacks and strokes, Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in September 2004 but internal company documents showed that Merck’s scientists were concerned about the risks of Vioxx several years earlier.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers filed lawsuits in both state and federal court against Pfizer, the manufacturer of Celebrex and Bextra, claiming that these deadly painkillers had harmed people who took them. Bextra was intended to relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis in adults, but was pulled from the market in 2005 because users of Bextra had a higher risk of stroke and heart attack. Bextra is also linked to Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a rare inflammatory skin disorder that can be life-threatening - up to 27 percent of those affected incur long term eye damage or vision loss, and up to 15 percent die. Cases involving SJS have generally already been settled. While Celebrex is still on the market, the drug received a black box warning, the strongest issued by the FDA.

In October of 2008 Pfizer agreed to pay $894 million to settle all personal injury cases, consumer fraud cases, and state attorneys general claims related to Bextra and Celebrex.