If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with bladder cancer and would like a free consultation on your potential legal rights regarding Actos please contact us at our New Jersey office by calling 856-663-8200.

They have now been recognized for their efforts by Trial Lawyers Care, a non-profit organization formed after the attacks of September 11, 2001 to provide free legal services. The mission of this organization is to acknowledge trial lawyers who contribute to their community through volunteer and charitable activities that serve the public good.

We are proud of Marc, Pam, Priscilla and Stephanie for the good work they do both inside the courtroom and out.

Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Volunteer as Civics Teachers

There are about 3,300 femur fracture cases involving Fosamax and about 1.200 ONJ (jaw) cases. The first femur trial in New Jersey ended a month ago when the plaintiff suffered a non-Fosamax related health problem during the trial. Merck has won 5 of the 7 trials so far. In February 2013 a federal jury in New York awarded $285,000 to a woman in a jaw case.

The fungal meningitis outbreak has been linked to methylprednisolone acetate (MPA), a steroid medication that is administered via injection, made by New England Compounding Center (NECC), a Massachusetts compounding pharmaceutical company. NECC voluntarily recalled the drug following reports of health problems associated with their products.

NECC made thousands of doses of MPA and two other steroids (betamethasone and triamcinolone) that tested positive for bacterial and fungal contaminants when samples were tested. The company had sold these contaminated lots to pain clinics located in 23 states.

At the time, mainstream drug companies failed to supply the demand for such medications. Three drug companies, Pfizer, Sandoz, and Teva, are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration to manufacture MPA. However, Sandoz and Teva, which make the generic versions of MPA, stopped making the drug after FDA inspectors found evidence of health violations. Representatives for Pfizer have stated that the company will make more of its MPA product, Depo-Medrol.

Typically, compounding pharmacy companies, such as NECC, are subject to more lax FDA regulations. However, as a result of the fungal meningitis outbreak, the FDA announced in February that they have launched surprise inspections of compounding companies. According to their reports, they have already found violations at manufacturing facilities, including drugs with no expiration dates, containers that were not adequately sterilized, and evidence of contamination.

Fungal Meningitis Case and Death Statistics by State

As of March 4, 2013, the CDC reported the following fungal meningitis case and death statistics for the affected states; New Jersey ranks as the fifth highest in terms of the number of cases that have affected the Garden State.

Visit the CDC website to check the latest fungal meningitis case and death statistics by state.

Do You Have a Case?

If you have undergone a steroid spinal injection for pain relief in the past few months, and have experienced the symptoms of fungal meningitis, it is important to seek medical and legal care immediately. The symptoms of fungal meningitis include fever, headache, neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light. Our Pennsylvania and New Jersey defective drug lawyers can evaluate your case and determine if you are entitled to compensation.

The contaminated, preservative-free MPA vials manufactured by NECC most likely came from the following lots:

• 05212012@68
• 06292012@26
• 08102012@51

If you believe that you have a case, contact Locks Law today.

Ms. Bartlett sued the generic drug maker, Mutual Pharmaceutical Company claiming that the drug was defective.  A jury found that Mutual was liable for Ms. Bartlett’s injuries, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury’s determination.  Mutual appealed to the Supreme Court which is slated to hear the case this month. You can read the court documents here.

So just how may the Supreme Court further limit the rights of consumers to sue generic drug makers? Under Federal law, generic manufacturers cannot deviate from the formulation or warnings of the brand name drugs they are imitating. Two years ago in a case called Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing, the Supreme Court severely restricted consumer rights by ruling that since generic manufacturers did not have control over the warning labels of their drugs, they could not be held liable for failing to warn consumers of the risks of taking their drugs.  This ruling destroyed the rights of consumers to sue generic drug makers for failing to disclose the potentially life threatening side effects of their products, while protecting the profits of Big Pharma.  This ruling sanctioned profit without responsibility.

Ms. Bartlett’s case is somewhat different, in that she is not claiming that the warnings on the labels were inadequate, but that the drug itself was defective.  In addition, the First Circuit ruled that even though Mutual could not have changed the drug, it had no obligation to continue selling a defective and dangerous product, and could have taken the drug off the market.

Mutual’s arguments in this case are the same as the industry’s arguments in Pliva: that because the drug company did not control the formulation of the copycat drug they sold, they should not be responsible for the devastating injuries it caused. Will the conservative, pro-business majority of the Roberts’ Court rule the same as way as well, and further restrict consumers’ rights?   Watch this blog for an update.

Steroid spinal injection drugs from the company New England Compounding Center (NECC) have caused fungal meningitis in about two dozen states. Why were these drugs even purchased by the pain clinics from a company like NECC? Perhaps one reason was greed by the pain clinics, but that question still has to be investigated in legal discovery to ascertain if that is true or not. Perhaps another reason is that two major manufacturers of the generic version of the drug (Teva and Sandoz) stopped making it when the FDA (remember, FDA regulates manufacturers not compounders like NECC) found health violations. Another company, Pfizer, sells such a product under the name Depo-Medrol, and it will increase its production of that drug. NECC has filed for protection under federal bankruptcy laws but millions of dollars taken by the insiders at NECC have been frozen by the bankruptcy court.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with fungal meningitis please contact Locks Law Firm for a free consultation about your legal rights.