A jury in Johnson & Johnson's home state of New Jersey ordered the health care and cosmetic products giant to pay punitive damages of $750 million in a talc mesothelioma case last week. The verdict comes on top of $37 million in compensatory damages awarded to four plaintiffs who claimed their disease was caused by asbestos-contaminated talc.
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as Prilosec (omeprazole) and Nexium (esomeprazole) have been linked to numerous serious side effects, ranging from pneumonia, osteoporosis and kidney stones to cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Three juries have determined that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, is a carcinogen. These verdicts are in agreement with the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which concluded that glyphosate is likely to cause cancer, and other scientific studies that have linked glyphosate to the disease. However, recently published research focusing on Roundup's “inert” ingredients suggests that there may be more to it than glyphosate.
Drugmaker Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has issued a voluntary recall for three lots of the antacid Nizatidine (Axid) after traces of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) were discovered in the active ingredient. Although no adverse events have been reported, Mylan is notifying all distributors, retailers, and customers, and has been making arrangements for the return of the affected products.
Last month, Drug Safety News featured a story about Valisure, a small, independent pharmaceutical testing lab in Connecticut that discovered carcinogenic NDMA in Zantac. It wasn't outside contamination – it was a problem with the molecule at the heart of the formulation.
Adding to the list of potential health hazards of “vaping,” a research team at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health has discovered a biocontaminant in JUUL vape oil that can lead to serious, long-term respiratory damage.
Six Roundup cancer cases are scheduled to go to trial right after the New Year, even as Bayer is attempting to negotiate a global settlement in Berlin. Among those plaintiffs are two children who suffer from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), allegedly due to exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide.
After traces of carcinogenic industrial chemicals have been found in the common blood pressure medication valsartan, the antidepressant alprazolam (Xanax) and the antacid ranitidine (Zantac), regulators are turning their sights on metformin – an otherwise relatively innocuous and safe prescription drug used by type-2 diabetics to control
Last year's Camp Fire, which literally wiped out the town of Paradise, California and killed 85 people, was ultimately caused by an aging power line that PG&E had failed to maintain properly. Furthermore, that egregious example of gross negligence is just one indication of “systemic problems” and the ways in which this convicted corporate felon and recidivist has been ignoring safety regulations for years.
Prominent mediation attorney Kenneth Feinberg – best known as architect of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund – recently told the German news magazine WirtschaftsWoche (“Economic Week”) that mediation between Bayer AG and U.S. glyphosate plaintiffs is progressing – but don't look for a settlement or resolution anytime soon.
Citing over 1,100 incidents and 70 infant deaths over the past 14 years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a warning to parents: do not use inclined sleepers for your babies.
On October 3rd Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon issued a Class 1 recall for over 8,200 Echelon Flex 60 Articulating Endoscopic Linear Cutters, more commonly known as surgical staplers. Class 1 is the most serious type of recall and indicates that lives are at stake.
HIV patients who are underweight and/or have high blood pressure do have a higher risk of reduced kidney function when treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) as compared to those who have been prescribed an AZT-based medication without protease inhibitors (medications that prevent viruses from replicating).
A new study appearing in the current edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine may provide plaintiffs in talc litigation the most powerful evidence yet discovered linking asbestos-contaminated talcum powder to mesothelioma.
The bone cement used in knee replacement and other types of surgery has been associated with numerous intraoperative and post-operative complications, including a condition known as bone cement implantation syndrome (BCIS) and aseptic
A number of glyphosate cancer cases that were scheduled to go to trial in the next several weeks have been postponed as Bayer AG attempts to reach a settlement with U.S. plaintiffs, Reuters reported this week. Assisting in the process is prominent mediation attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who is best known as the architect of the 911 Victims Compensation Fund.
With this week's revelations of NDMA contamination in the popular antacid Zantac (ranitidine), health authorities and scientists are asking just how it happened. Frighteningly, there is evidence to suggest that it may have been there all along.
In the latest blow to German-based conglomerate Bayer, the government of Germany itself has now announced that it will begin phasing out allowed uses of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the controversial herbicide Roundup.
No nation wants to fight a two-front war, although the U.S. and Germany both did it during the last century. Now, the e-cigarette industry finds itself in the same position. On one front is an ongoing and growing army of injury plaintiffs and their lawyers. On the other front are government regulators who threaten the industry's “freedom” to sell their products with little in the way of accountability for how they market them and to whom.
The latest addition to a long list of risks and side effects associated with proton pump inhibitors is a predisposition to allergies, according to an Austrian research team. Their study, based on an examination of national health records spanning four years, has found that patients who take medications such as Nexium and Prilosec wind up being prescribed allergy meds twice as much as those who don't. This is a particular risk for women and those over 60 years of age.
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