Pharmaceutical Articles

Beasley Allen has one of the largest and most technologically advanced Mass Torts practices in the country. The Mass Torts division represents numerous people in claims against companies that manufacture and/or market defective pharmaceuticals and/or medical devices. The resources devoted to this division allow the firm to competently and conscientiously handle any group of cases, no matter how large, along with particular catastrophic injury cases.

Our firm was recently involved in one of the greatest victories in Mass Torts history, against drug manufacturer Merck regarding the drug Vioxx. After more than five years of hard-fought and difficult litigation, Merck agreed to pay $4.85 billion, the largest pharmaceutical settlement in U.S. history, to resolve certain Vioxx-related claims involving plaintiffs who suffered a heart attack, including sudden cardiac death, or a stroke.

UAB research team to study long-term effects of fungal meningitis outbreak
Posted: May 14, 2013

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will study cases of fungal meningitis and infections in patients who received contaminated steroid shots last year from a compounding pharmacy to determine the long-term effects of the infections that have sickened

Tens of thousands of adverse events associated with Mirena IUD
Posted: May 13, 2013

The Mirena Intrauterine Device (IUD) has been associated with more than 47,000 adverse event reports since the device was introduced in 2000, according to AdverseEvents.

Vitamin D supplements may prevent vascular access complications in dialysis patients with diabetes
Posted: May 13, 2013

Dialysis patients with type 2 diabetes who take vitamin D supplements are less likely to have complications with vascular access than those who do not take the supplements, a new study shows.

FDA warns hospitals to check inventory for stolen, unsterile surgical staples
Posted: May 13, 2013

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is notifying all surgical personnel that some surgical staples in their inventory that are labeled as sterile are unsafe because they were stolen from the manufacturer prior to sterilization.

Transvaginal mesh complications leave some women facing lifetime of injury
Posted: May 12, 2013

One in 10 women implanted with transvaginal mesh to correct pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) will develop complications, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For women who have had a successful implant, life

FDA strengthens Depakote warnings over cognitive risks to unborn children
Posted: May 11, 2013

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning childbearing women and their doctors to avoid using Depakote and other drugs containing valproate commonly used to treat migraine headaches after the final results of a study showed the drugs could

Judge moves second DePuy hip bellwether trial to September
Posted: May 10, 2013

A federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) involving all-metal ASR hip implants made by DePuy Orthopedics has moved the second bellwether trial from June to September.

SSRIs linked to increased risk of bleeding events, transfusions after surgery
Posted: May 9, 2013

People who use antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and undergo surgery are more likely to have bleeding events, need transfusions, suffer from irregular heart functions, stay in the hospital longer, and die shortly after surgery than people

DePuy seeks to overturn $8.26 million jury award in first ASR hip trial
Posted: May 9, 2013

Johnson & Johnson and its orthopedics unit DePuy seek to overturn a Los Angeles jury’s decision to award $8.26 million to a plaintiff for injuries he received from a metal-on-metal DePuy ASR hip implant. The companies claim that the jury’s

FDA warns of low IQ in children born to women taking anti-seizure drug valproate
Posted: May 9, 2013

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning doctors not to prescribe the anti-seizure drug Valproate to pregnant women for the prevention of migraine headaches because there is evidence that the drug can cause decreased IQ scores in children whose