Defective Drug Lawyer in Sacramento
Just about everyone has seen those television commercials for prescription drugs where at the end of the ad, a fast-talking speaker reels off all of the drug’s potential side effects. Sometimes, the list seems to go on forever: nausea, vomiting, insomnia, skin rashes, liver damage, heart problems, and seizures. In many cases, even death is listed as a “side effect.”
In fact, according to several medical studies, the side effects of prescription drugs kill more than 100,000 people in the United States every year. These aren’t deaths of people who’ve overdosed on pain medication. They are not the result of negligence by physicians. These are people who took their medication as prescribed and died from one or more of the side effects. Many more develop debilitating health problems.
How do the big pharmaceutical companies get away with this? Well, that’s the reason they list all of the side effects in those commercials. That’s also why you receive an even more extensive list of side effects when you fill a new prescription. By law, you’ve been adequately warned about the risks, and the drug company is off the hook. Many people willingly accept that risk, because the medication they take improves the quality of their life when weighed against the side effects.
What Are Defective Drugs?
In the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry, the rush to get new drugs to market often results in grave errors. Some drug companies cut corners on clinical trials, or provide false data to researchers conducting the trials, to speed up approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Then, when the drug hits the market, patients discover that either it doesn’t work as advertised or it produces side effects they haven’t been warned about.
When this happens to enough people, the FDA may declare the product a “defective drug” and the pharmaceutical company can be held liable for the damage it has caused. If you or a loved one have been harmed by a defective drug, the experienced pharmaceutical litigation lawyers at Demas Law Group, P.C., may be able to help you hold the pharmaceutical company accountable for the damage it has caused.
Taking on the Pharmaceutical Giants
Make no mistake, pharmaceuticals are big business. In the United States, nearly 4 billion prescriptions were filled in 2011, including some 400 million in California alone. Total retail sales in the United States were a staggering $228 billion.
With pockets that deep, few individuals (or law firms for that matter) have the financial wherewithal to take on a pharmaceutical company alone. But in many defective drug cases, you are not alone. There may be hundreds, even thousands of people across the country who have taken the same defective drug and suffered a similar injury. These victims can band together to join what’s known as a mass tort lawsuit.
The Phen-Fen Example of Defective Drugs
A prime example of a defective drug lawsuit concerns the diet drug Phen-Fen. Hailed as a “magic pill” when it was released in the 1990s, millions of people took Phen-Fen before it was discovered the drug caused serious and even fatal heart valve problems in nearly one-third of its users. Eventually, it was revealed that Phen-Fen had never been tested in clinical trials.
Thousands of people—including family members who’d lost loved ones—joined a nationwide lawsuit against the drug’s manufacturer that’s still going on today. So far, a total of $22 billion has been paid out to victims who were able to prove they’ve been harmed by the drug. Demas Law Group, P.C., played a key role in ensuring several Sacramento Phen-Fen victims received just compensation for the injuries caused by the defective drug.
That’s the same kind of effort the skilled pharmaceutical litigation attorneys at Demas Law Group, P.C., put into every case. We routinely hire the best experts in the field, such as investigators, engineers, doctors, vocational rehab counselors, and economists to go head to head with any insurance company and a law firm hired against us.
Contact a Dangerous Drug Lawyer in Sacramento Today
If your injuries stemmed from using a defective drug, we can help you obtain funds for damages, including compensation for current and long-term medical care, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, diminished quality of life, loss of relations, shortened life expectancy, and pain and suffering.
Our Sacramento product liability attorneys are hired on a contingency basis. You won’t be billed for attorney fees and court costs until a settlement or a winning verdict is reached. No win-no fees.
This literature may be considered attorney advertising or an offer of professional services, according to rule 1-400 Rules of Professional Conduct by the State Bar of California. The information does not constitute a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of your potential legal matter.
