New York Defective Drug Attorney Serving NYC and the Hudson Valley
You’ve surely noticed the long list of possible side effects that the announcer reads when advertising for the latest pharmaceutical drugs. Most of us assume that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wouldn’t have approved those drugs for the public market if they were not safe. However, the pharmaceutical industry is large and highly influential. These corporations are well-versed in how to get drugs to market quickly, sometimes before the best research is available on how safe they may be over the long term. If you’ve been injured by a dangerous drug or defective prescription medication, you may be entitled to seek damages from the company that developed and manufactured the substance.
Failure to Disclose All Side Effects
The FDA imposes rigorous testing requirements on new drugs before they are allowed to be sold to the public in order to ensure public safety. While pharmaceutical corporations are obligated to disclose any possible side effects they’ve discovered along the course of their research and testing, the large profits that stand to be made from these drugs often serve as a motivator not to disclose to the FDA all results discovered by their testing. This can result in serious consequences for individuals looking for a solution to a painful medical condition, who unknowingly put themselves at risk of serious side effects for which they have no warning. A skilled defective drug attorney will know how best to research these cases to show when the manufacturer became aware of the potential side effect, but still failed to give notice to patients of the possible health consequences of taking the drug, thus profiting while putting you at risk of harm.
Promoting Off-Label Uses
Additionally, pharmaceutical companies often market their drugs for off-label uses. This means that, while the FDA may have examined the testing results and approved the drug for one particular use, the pharmaceutical company has determined that the drug can be effective for other conditions, and has begun to promote the drug for those other, unapproved conditions. This practice of promoting drugs for off-label uses is dangerous and illegal, and is often done through back channels using monetary incentives paid to physicians who will prescribe the drugs for those additional uses. One example of an off-label use with tragic consequences was the drug Ondansetron, known commonly as Zofran. While the drug was developed for the treatment of nausea in cancer patients, the drug became popular for the off-label use of treating morning sickness in pregnant women. However, many families have come forward and filed lawsuits alleging birth defects linked to this off-label use.
Help is available for harm caused by dangerous or defective drugs
If you suffered serious health consequences as a result of taking a medicine that was defectively manufactured or used expired ingredients, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm which was inflicted on you. A defective drug lawsuit will give you a way to be paid for the medical costs, pain and suffering, and lost work you may have experienced. If you’ve been hurt by serious side effects of a drug that were never disclosed, contact the personal injury and dangerous products attorneys at Dupée & Monroe for a consultation on your possible lawsuit, at 845-294-8900.
