Compounding Pharmacy Files for Bankruptcy Following Fungal Meningitis Outbreak

The New England Compounding Center (NECC) has filed for bankruptcy. Following a scandal which left them unlicensed and responsible for injuries to over 600 people, the company has shut its doors for good. To provide relief for the 39 people who died and 600 injured patients, the company intends to set up a fund to distribute funds evenly among injured patients rather than enduring litigation.

With between $1 million and $10 million in assets and an estimated $2 million in debts, the amount of relief the company is offering to patients appears to be quite small. With 39 lives cut tragically short by their tainted products, it seems unfathomable that patients would get so little.  Let's do the math here: assuming the company has $8 million to offer 600 patients in relief, that equals to a little over $13,000 per person. That's not enough to pay for hospital bills and expensive long term care let alone to compensate families for the loss of their loved ones.

The Dangers of Fungal Meningitis

To the over 600 patients who contracted fungal meningitis, these consumers were faced with a particularly dangerous and nasty disease that could cause the following:

• weakness
• loss of sensation
• abnormal body movements
• swelling in the brain
• hearing loss
• abnormal posture
• excessive blood clotting
• danger of strokes
• seizures
• gangrene of the limbs
• death

Fungal meningitis is treatable with long courses of antibiotics.  However, as was the case in this outbreak, patients faced significant resistance to the drugs and reoccurring outbreaks.  Patients did not experience a marked decrease in risk after treating their initial symptoms. 

If You Have Been Injured

If you suffered injuries at the hands of this compounding pharmacy, you should consult a skilled personal injury and product liability attorney to determine your next steps.  Patients may want to pursue another course of action and should discuss this with a skilled attorney instead of hastily accepting something. 

DOCTORS LACK FAITH IN DRUG COMPANY STUDIES

DOCTORS LACK FAITH IN DRUG COMPANY STUDIES

Somewhere out there, my mother is rolling her eyes.  To the surprise of no one, even doctors lack full faith in drug company sponsored studies.  Does anyone trust research paid for by the manufacturer? If you truly want to know the details of a product, conventional wisdom says its generally the independent studies that offer the most insight. 

According to a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Harvard Medical School showed that doctors are rethinking the efficacy of drugs based upon the source of studies’ funding.  The report concludes that doctors are only half as willing to prescribe drugs in industry- sponsored drug trials compared to independent National Institute of Health funded trials.  To drug makers, this is the sound of their bottom line taking a nose dive.

WHY THE LACK OF FAITH

It turns out that doctors are a skeptical bunch.  Concerned with splashy headline driven drugscandals, many doctors are recoiling from new drugs whose only studies are sponsored by the drug companies themselves.  Perhaps this amount of caution is warranted.  Recently, we’ve seen a lot of press about drugs which were released amid glowing pharmaceutical company studies and later turned into nightmares for the general public. 

There are multiple reasons for this skepticism including:

·         Pharmaceutical companies’ reputation for not including certain unsightly complications and side effects in studies

·         Pharmaceutical companies’ profits over people image

·         Splashy headlines in major newspapers warning of the latest FDA recall or dangerous drug

With so many good reasons for skepticism, are there legitimate reasons for trusting these studies that doctors are closing themselves off to?

PERHAPS CAUTION IS THE BEST APPROACH

Perhaps rather than jumping to immediate conclusions, a cautioned approach would be best.  Doctors already have enough on their plates, but a little investigation into the study and potential outside opinions, studies, and research might be a good idea.  Nobody wants to miss out on prescribing a drug that might extend patients’ lives and improve their health drastically.  But until the next new miracle drug presents itself, a measured and cautioned approach is probably the best. 

As a patient, does it make you feel better that your doctor is cautiously weighing the options prior to subscribing potentially risky drugs? It would help me sleep better at night to know that my doctor is thinking it through. But if you find you’ve suffered just the opposite, and your doctor has gone all in and prescribed you a risky and dangerous drug, you do have options.  If you’ve been injured, you might want to talk to an attorney.  Call us and we’ll listen to your case.

FINES TO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES DOUBLE IN 2012

FINES TO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES DOUBLE IN 2012

Pharmaceutical companies make millions to billions of dollars in profits off of their popular drugs.  So what’s the risk in pushing out a product before it’s ready for public consumption?  According to the pharmaceutical industry watchdog, Public Citizen, pharmaceutical companies have already paid approximately $6.6 billion in fines this year for defrauding U.S. health programs. But to pharmaceutical companies, this is par for the course.  Although these fines represent nearly double the amount paid in 2011, this disturbing trend shows how little the pharmaceutical companies can spend out of wallet busting profits in order to clean up their messes.

Public Citizen researcher Sammy Almashat comments that this is expected by investors and pharmaceutical makers themselves.  “The consensus seems to be that this is a business model, and unless the federal government moves first to increase these penalties, that’s likely to remain the case.”

WHY THE FINES

Pharmaceutical drug makers have come under fire for multiple reasons, including:

·         Releasing drugs before they were safe enough forpublic consumption

·         Hiding serious side effects and complications

·         Marketing the drug for off label uses

·         Overcharging government medical programs

In response, the government is cracking down on prescription drug makers and fining them for these flagrant abuses.

WILL THIS MAKE YOU SAFER

Ideally, these fines will help protect you from the hasty push to market associated with some of these drugs like Avandia and Actos or from the off label use like Medtronic Infuse.  In practice, pharmaceutical companies may accept the fines and lawsuits for risking your health as part of the cost of doing business. 

If you’ve been injured by a bad drug, you should call an attorney to discuss your rights. Take steps to protect yourself from the greed of pharmaceutical companies.