Greenville Dangerous Drugs Lawyer

Doctors across the country write billions of prescriptions each year. While many patients take their medications without incident, some people experience dangerous side effects. When prescription drugs cause serious consequences to the health and well-being of patients, compensation is the only just relief. Auger & Auger Accident and Injury Lawyers handle dangerous drug and pharmaceutical claims against manufacturers.

Our Greenville dangerous drugs attorney works with individuals whose health has suffered in many cases after taking prescribed medications. If you have experienced harmful or dangerous side effects after taking any medicine, it is your right to file for compensation. Our team is prepared to advocate on your behalf for the compensation you deserve. No person should be made worse or develop secondary health concerns after taking prescribed medication as directed.

Complications of Dangerous Drugs

Our Greenville dangerous drug attorney team has extensive experience handling cases for patients who have had abnormal side effects after taking medication from these commonly known drugs: Risperdal®, Invokana®, Taxotere®, Jardiance®, Xarelto®, Risperdal®, Eliquis®, Xigduo® XR, Farxiga®, Testosterone®, and Invokamet®.

While some side effects of prescription medication are minor and easily dealt with, others cause complications severe enough to warrant medical care and, in some instances, hospitalization. In fact, the FDA reports that more than 117,000 people suffer such serious side effects each year. While some complications are due to an error in dosage or a wrong medication being prescribed, many are due to the medication itself.

When a prescription drug causes harm despite being used as intended, your Greenville dangerous drug attorney can file a claim based on:

1. Negligence in manufacturing or design
2. Strict liability
3. Failure to warn of side effects

Any side effects should be reported to your medical provider or pharmacist, but some may require immediate attention. If you feel dizzy, numb, have difficulty with your vision, have a rapid heartbeat, or have any other complication that feels serious – call 911 immediately!

How Do You Know If You’ve Been Harmed by a Dangerous Drug?

It can be difficult for a patient to figure this out on their own. When you develop serious health issues while taking a medication, your doctor probably won’t assume they’re related to your prescription, unless they are a known side effect. (Even then, the pharmaceutical company may not have gone out of its way to inform all prescribing physicians about the risks.) So if you develop a problem like a blood clot or neurological symptoms, your doctor may assume that this is either a symptom of a condition you already have or a new condition. In some cases, they may be right – but in others, your new symptoms could be caused by the medication you’re on.

Keep Track of Any New Symptoms

Because your doctor may not be able to identify the problem quickly, we recommend being proactive about your health. Make notes of any new symptoms you have after starting a new medication, even if they seem minor. Sometimes serious side effects may start with seemingly inconsequential symptoms.

If you experience any of the following symptoms, contact your doctor immediately:

● Numbness, tingling, weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, or other symptoms of a stroke (call 911 immediately)
● Seizures or loss of consciousness
● Blurred or altered vision or difficulty seeing
● Unusual bleeding or bruising
● Rashes
● Chest pain, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of a heart attack (call 911 right away)
● Infections
● Lumps under the skin
● Any unexplained pain or discomfort that lasts more than a day or two

A Diagnosis Can Also Be a Symptom

What if you’re diagnosed with a serious condition while taking medication for an unrelated issue? Your doctor probably considers their job done if they have diagnosed the problem and referred you to a specialist for treatment. Many serious illnesses, such as cancer, have a wide variety of risk factors, from genetics to exposure to toxic chemicals. As a result, you may not immediately connect your diagnosis with the medication you’re taking.

It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the risks of any drug you take. If you are diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer or a blood clot, it’s worth checking to see if any medications you take or have taken are associated with an increased risk of those conditions. This does not necessarily mean your illness was caused by the drug, but an experienced dangerous drugs attorney can help you determine if you were harmed by your medication or if your condition was simply a coincidence.

Dangerous Drugs with Current Litigation

Below is a list of some medications whose manufacturers are currently facing litigation for product liability or failure to warn the consumer about potentially serious side effects. This is not an exhaustive list of every drug that has caused harm to patients. If you suffered a serious health issue that you believe might be related to a medication you used, please contact Auger & Auger for a free consultation about your case.

Risperdal

This antipsychotic medication is used to treat the symptoms of mental health conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability in autistic patients. Unfortunately, it can also cause elevated levels of prolactin, a hormone that promotes breast development. Many male patients, especially those who were prescribed the drug in their childhood or teen years, went on to be diagnosed with gynecomastia, a condition where men develop breasts and, in some cases, even lactate. Litigation against Risperdal’s maker, Johnson & Johnson, alleges that the company knew the risks of breast development with Risperdal, but concealed this information from prescribing doctors. The company was also fined for marketing the drug for off-label use in children and teens. Most of the Risperdal lawsuits have been settled, but it may still be possible to make a claim if you believe it caused you to develop gynecomastia.

Invokana and Invokamet

Invokana and Invokamet are medications used to treat high blood sugar in patients with Type II Diabetes. However, many patients developed ketoacidosis, brittle bones, or acute kidney injury while taking these drugs. In 2018, their makers, Johnson & Johnson, and their subsidiary Janssen agreed to create a settlement fund to resolve most of the thousands of lawsuits open against them at the time. The FDA encourages healthcare providers to appropriately monitor patients using Invokana for ulcers that could lead to amputations, as well as signs of ketoacidosis.

Jardiance and Farxiga

Like Invokana, Jardiance and Farxiga are popular drugs in the class of SGLT2 inhibitors, used for treating high blood sugar and elevated A1C in Type II Diabetes. While Invokana poses a higher risk of amputations, Jardiance and Farxiga are both associated with an increased risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, kidney damage, urinary tract infections leading to hospitalization, and Fournier’s Gangrene, a type of flesh-eating bacterial infection in the genital area. In many cases, lawsuit eligibility is based on when the specific drug was used because warnings were added to many SGLT2 inhibitors between 2015 and 2018. If you believe you were affected by one of these medications, please seek legal advice right away.

Taxotere

Taxotere is in a group of drugs that treat cancer by suppressing cell growth. Starting in 1986, it was used to treat multiple malignancies but primarily breast cancer. Hair loss is expected with chemotherapy, but the hair usually grows back once the treatment is concluded. With Taxotere, many patients noticed that their hair loss was permanent. Additionally, some patients reported permanent eye damage or vision loss.

By 2016, there were numerous lawsuits against Sanofi, Taxotere’s manufacturer. Most of the permanent hair loss suits were consolidated into a multi-district litigation or MDL. A separate MDL was formed in Louisiana federal court in 2022 for eye damage cases.

In an MDL, comparable lawsuits against the same defendant remain separate but many of the pre-trial activities are combined to save time. A judge listens to pre-trial motions on a few of the lawsuits, also called bellwether cases, then each case is returned to its original district and heard separately. There are still tens of thousands of active Taxotere cases for both hair loss and vision loss, most alleging that the drug caused these permanent side effects. Some also take the company to task for failing to warn US customers about the risks of permanent hair loss, despite giving this warning to customers in other countries. The company added this warning for US users in 2015, so you may not have a case for permanent hair loss if you took the medication after the warning was added. However, you may still be able to file a case for eye damage, but your time could be limited. If you believe your suffered permanent side effects from Taxotere, please call us now to learn your options.

Eliquis and Xarelto

These are blood thinners, often prescribed to help patients who have suffered a blood clot or certain heart conditions that increase the risk of blood clots. All blood thinners, by nature, carry a risk of bleeding since they reduce clotting. However, in recent years there have been concerns that Xarelto and Eliquis may be particularly dangerous in this regard.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, alleging that its drug Xarelto is unreasonably dangerous. Some also claim that the manufacturer failed to include information in the drug facts about a test to determine how much Xarelto was in the patient’s system. In certain cases, surgeons did not operate on patients because they didn’t consider it safe without knowing how much Xarelto was affecting the patient’s clotting ability. Janssen settled a number of lawsuits involving severe bleeding events with Xarelto in 2019, but patients who were not part of this MDL can still file separate suits.

Eliquiis is another blood thinner that was approved by the FDA in late 2012 after a complicated process in which its makers reported problems with the ARISTOTLE clinical trial. They admitted there were errors in the trial and some results were lost or changed. Yet after nine months, the FDA ultimately approved Eliquis anyway after deciding these issues didn’t substantially change the outcome of the trial.

As with Xarelto, many patients suffered serious bleeding events. Multiple lawsuits noted that Bristol-Myers and Pfizer failed to disclose the risks of significant bleeding, or that there was no antidote when excessive bleeding occurred. This was an odd counterpoint to the manufacturer’s claims that Eliquis was actually safer and had fewer adverse events than older blood thinners like Warfarin (there is an antidote for excessive bleeding caused by Warfarin). Ultimately, Eliquis has been sued for concealing knowledge about the drug’s defects, indifference to health and safety, failure to warn of bleeding risks and the lack of an antidote, misrepresentation or fraud, failure to disclose studies that were critical of the clinical trial data, and negligence. Many of these lawsuits have been grouped into an MDL, but bellwether trials have yet to be scheduled.

If you or a loved one took either of these blood thinners and suffered a severe bleeding event, please contact us today to learn about your options.

Auger & Auger Is Your Patient Advocate in Greenville

If you or a loved one has taken one of the prescription medications we’ve listed, or any other drug that has caused alarming side effects, you have rights. If you took the drug as prescribed and it directly led to a worsening or new health condition, the law is on your side.

In cases such as those involving dangerous drugs, plaintiffs may file individual lawsuits against the drug manufacturer, or participate in multi-district litigation or MDL. Your Greenville dangerous drug attorney can speak to you at length about your options, and help to determine your best course of action.

At Auger & Auger, our zero-fee guarantee is always in place. You will not be asked to pay for our services until we win your case. Please call our office today if you have experienced the harmful consequences of a dangerous drug. You are not alone.