Pharmaceutical Drug Warnings Inadequate And Virtually Toothless

If you want to know if a drug will harm you, check it yourself. Don’t rely on the Food and Drug Administration to protect you.

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when you can’t rely on a government-run agency designed to protect you when it comes to drugs and to tell you when a drug is dangerous to your health. To be fair, the FDA does issue warnings, warning letters, demands black box warnings and even does recalls.

The problem with that is that although that looks and sounds good, the warnings often come far too late to prevent harm. These “too little, too late” warnings often wind up in court as evidence when a Chicago personal injury lawyer presents a pharmaceutical product injury case on behalf of a client.

You might be aware of the controversy over Reglan, which is also referred to as metoclopramide. This particular drug speeds up the movement of your stomach muscles, cutting the time required to empty stomach contents into the intestines. While it may sound fairly harmless, this drug has led to a high number of cases of tardive dyskinesia. The products that contain metoclopramide include the oral solution, injections, oral disintegrating tablets and the regular tablets. The FDA does list these products as having the potential to cause tardive dyskinesia.

While having a list after the fact is nice, it’s not all that helpful to patients who rely on their doctors to provide them with medication that won’t harm them. The patients and the physicians also rely on Big Pharma to make drugs that won’t harm them. Obviously, if you read the news, this is a dashed hope, as there are hundreds of dangerous drug lawsuits being litigated and filed across the nation on what seems like a daily basis.

Tardive dyskinesia produces symptoms that often include grimacing, lip smacking and puckering, tongue convexity, impaired finger movement, involuntary and often repetitive movements of the extremities and rapid eye movements/blinking. Many of these symptoms are irreversible. Where is the FDA when this is happening to patients?

The major problem is that the FDA has very few remedies at its disposal when it comes to drugs like this. Frankly, they can only demand a black box warning be printed on the product outlining the risks of Reglan. Even if the warning is on the drug packaging, not many patients take the time to read it. In other words, a black box warning is virtually ineffective and toothless, as the drug is still on the market and still harming people. This is yet another fact that may be used in a pharmaceutical product injury lawsuit being handled by a seasoned Chicago personal injury attorney.

The other remedy the FDA may resort to is something referred to as a risk evaluation and moderation strategy (REMS). In a nutshell, REMS are supposed to weigh the risks versus the rewards (if any) of using products like this to offering additional warnings to end users. Again, the product is still on the market, when in reality, it may be best to be recalled.

If you have taken Reglan and have suffered any of the above symptoms, please contact a skilled Chicago injury lawyer and find out what options you have to recover damages for your injuries.

Michael Osborne is a Chicago injury lawyer. The Law Office of Michael Osborne helps accident, wrongful death, and personal injury victims. To contact a Chicago personal injury attorney or learn more, visit Michaelosbornelaw.com or call (312) 315-1765.

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