The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is discussing whether patients on cancer drug Rituxan should use it for a shorter period or take breaks, after reports linked the drug to dozens of cases of a rare and usually fatal brain injury.
The drug Rituxan is used to treat lymphoma, a cancer of immune-system cells. It costs thousands of dollars per treatment and had U.S. sales of $2.6 billion in 2008, with more than a million people using it, and may not know the potential products liability hazards linked with it.
Our San Diego firm’s personal injury attorneys believe that drug manufacturers should always use caution when allowing new drugs to be taken by consumers as part of their medical treatment for a personal injury. They should not allow drugs that can cause personal injury or wrongful death. 
However, a study released in March in the medical journal “Blood” linked Rituxan to 57 cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalitis, or PML, between 1997 and 2008. In PML, the white brain matter decays, provoking memory loss, speech disorder and disorientation. Of those, 51 died and the median time between their diagnosis and wrongful death was about two months.
The cause of PML is unclear. However, Rituxan is one of several immune-suppressing drugs that have been linked to it. In April, Raptiva, an immunosuppressant for psoriasis from Genentech, was voluntarily withdrawn from the market after three cases of PML were confirmed.
As personal injury lawyers in San Diego, we believe that the makers of defective products, such as pharmaceuticals, can possibly be found liable for fault if a personal injury or wrongful death occurs due to negligence.
Please feel free to call us now at 1-800-655-6585 or click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with an experienced personal injury attorney. We have a large bilingual staff that can assist you in either English or Spanish.
About Michael PinesMichael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.
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Tags: defective products, lymphoma, rituxan, wrongful death
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