Central Florida Personal Injury Lawyer - Defective Drugs

Total Body Formula Recalled

Jenny Albano — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:31:49 GMT

The FDA is telling consumers not to use Total Body Formula in Tropical Orange and Peach Nectar, or Total Body Mega Formula in the Orange/Tangerine flavor because the dietary supplement can cause adverse reactions such as hair loss, muscle cramps, diarrhea, joint pain and fatigue. The Total Body Formula products come in eight-ounce and 32-ounce plastic bottles and has been voluntarily recalled by Total Body Essential Nutrition.

The Florida Department of Health have received 23 reports of consumers who experienced adverse reactions 7 to 10 days after consuming this product. All the cases included hair loss, muscle cramps, diarrhea, and joint pain and fatigue. There have also been reports of consumers in Tennessee experiencing the same symptoms, they are currently being investigated by the Florida Department of Health and the FDA.

FDA laboratories are analyzing samples of the products to identify the cause of the reactions, including the possibility that the products contain excessive amounts of selenium, which is known to cause symptoms such as those described in the adverse events reported to the agency. Selenium, a trace mineral, is needed only in small amounts for good health.

If consumers still own these products, the FDA recommends that the Total Body Formula be discarded immediately and not consumed.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Publix Settles Consumer Lawsuit over Lemon-Lime Soda with Benzene

Courtney Mills — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:04:09 GMT

Publix Supermarkets announced this week that the Lakeland-based grocery chain had settled a consumer lawsuit over problems relating to the content of the chemical benzene in the company's private label soda pop. Consumer groups had brought the suit, alleging that ingredients in Publix diet lemon-lime soda compound to form trace amounts of benzene once the beverage has heated during shipping. Benzene is a highly toxic chemical solvent and is generally not considered safe for human consumption.

While the FDA has not issued guidelines on the acceptable benzene content of soda pop, Publix directed their private label supplier to reformulate the store's diet lemon-lime soda after conducting in-house testing of the affected product. The reformulated Publix diet lemon-lime has 'use by' labeling dated July 3, 2008. Although exact terms of the settlement remained undisclosed, Publix indicated that customers would receive a refund or replacement soda for any outstanding product with a 'use-by' date prior to July 3, 2008.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills

Merck Settles Vioxx Claims for $4.85 Billion

K.C. Bouchillon — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:31:52 GMT

Merck, the manufacturer of the heavily marketed arthritis/pain medication, Vioxx, has committed $4.85 billion toward settlement of claims that the product was defective and could and did cause death. Merck pulled the product from the market about three years ago when reports of Vioxx-related deaths surfaced. Since then, the company has been accused of putting marketing and profits ahead of consumer safety. The head of the Journal of the American Medical Association, speaking on NPR, estimated that approximately 95% of those taking the prescription drug didn't need it, exposing them to an unnecessary risk of heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately, as large as the settlement amount is, it is less than the amount of just one year of Merck's net profits.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices, and Implants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by K.C. Bouchillon

Winn-Dixie Pulls Mislabeled Ice Cream from Shelves

Courtney Mills — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:47:43 GMT

Winn-Dixie Grocery Stores has issued a recall on Prestige Chocolate Ice Cream because of possible mislabeled packaging. Some of the Prestige Ice Cream product shipped by Winn-Dixie may have actually been Chocolate Almond flavor ice cream instead of Chocolate.

Persons who suffer from nut allergies or from sensitivity to almonds may risk life-threatening complications from eating the product, and are urged to return it Winn-Dixie for a refund. Prestige ice cream comes in an oval 1.75 quart paper carton marked with the code 12-356 and an expiration date of JUN 25 08 on a white strip on the side of the carton.

Prestige Chocolate Ice Cream was shipped to Winn-Dixie and Save-Rite stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. No illnesses have been reported so far as a result of the mislabeling.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills

Avandia linked to increased heart attack risk

K.C. Bouchillon — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:29:00 GMT

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Giant drug company puts "miracle" drug on the market, markets it aggressively, and has worldwide sales in the billions of dollars. Then it turns out that the "miracle" comes with the ultimate side-effect: a significantly increased chance of dying from using the drug. First, it was Vioxx. Now, it's Avandia. Touted by its maker, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, as a revolution in treatment of diabetes, Avandia sales skyrocketed, bringing considerable profits to Glaxo. However, a recent study published in the venerable and highly respected New England Journal of Medicine found that patients taking Avandia have 43% higher chance of having a heart attack. Glaxo's response is also the same as other drug makers whose drugs are found to be less than a miracle: The study is flawed. Time will tell.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by K.C. Bouchillon

Zelnorm Recalled

Christina Cole — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 02:55:49 GMT

Novartis Pharmaceuticals has voluntarily agreed to the FDA's request that they discontinue the marketing and sales of Zelnorm (tegaserod maleate).

The FDA's request was based on new information of an increased risk of serious cardiovascular adverse events, including heart attack, chest pain and stroke associated with the use of Zelnorm. Based on this information, the FDA decided that the overall health risk versus the benefit for the drug is unfavorable to continue on the market.

Zelnorm is a prescription drug approved short term, for women who suffer from irritable syndrome with constipation and for patients that are younger than 65 years with chronic constipation.

In February and March of 2007, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, gave the FDA results of new analyses from 29 completed clinical studies that used Zelnorm for treatment of various gastrointestinal tract conditions. The data was combined to weight the chance and of side effects on blood vessels and the heart.

In each study, patients were assigned at random to either Zelnorm or a sugar pill they thought was Zelnorm. These 29 studies included 11,614 patients treated with Zelnorm and 7,031 treated with a sugar pill. The average age of patients in these studies was 43 years and most patients--88%--were women.

The number of patients who suffered a heart attack, stroke or severe heart chest pain that can turn into a heart attack was small. However, patients treated with Zelnorm had a higher chance of having any of these serious and life-threatening side effects than did those who were treated with a sugar pill.

Thirteen patients treated with Zelnorm (0.1%) had serious and life-threatening cardiovascular side effects; among these, four patients had a heart attack (one died), six had a type of severe heart chest pain which can quickly turn into a heart attack, and three had a stroke. Among the patients taking the sugar pill, only one (or 0.01%) had symptoms suggesting the beginning of a stroke that went away without complication.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole