Tainted supplements continue to be sold after recalls

News that a study found companies were continuing to offer tainted dietary supplements despite being recalled was covered by several major newspapers. The study revealed gaps in FDA enforcement and urged stronger measures to tackle the problem, some news outlets note. USA Today , citing research unveiled Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, notes that researchers “identified 27 supplements” still being sold “online in the summer of 2013 that were among 274 recalled during 2009-2012.” The article notes “chemicals similar to the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate) or the diet drug Meridia (sibutramine hydrochloride monohydrate)” were found in nearly 67% of the supplements being offered. Meridia was pulled over heart attack and stroke concerns. For example, Gaspari Nutrition was continuing to offer Novedex XT, a bodybuilding supplement, which was recalled in 2010.

Providing details of the study, the New York Times reports in its “Well” blog that most of the supplements “were marketed for weight loss, exercise and sexual enhancement, and they were sold across the country at convenience stores, in health food shops and over the Internet.” Among other chemicals, the piece notes, the supplements were found to contain antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine), while several of the weight-loss products contained Sibutramine, “an amphetamine-like drug that was removed from the market” in the US, Asia and Europe “after a clinical trial showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.” FDA spokeswoman Jennifer Dooren is quoted in the piece.

Examining the potential loopholes that allow such tainted supplements to be sold, the Los Angeles Times points out that “unlike drugs, dietary supplements don’t have to be proved safe before being sold, and manufacturers can make general claims about health benefits.” The paper notes that with “limited powers to regulate nutritional supplements, the FDA in recent years has stepped up its recalls of nutritional supplements that are adulterated with prescription medications.” The article notes that in the three years starting January 2009, “the agency demanded that 274 such supplements be withdrawn from the market until the prescription drugs they illegally contained was removed.”

Study’s lead author Dr. Pieter Cohen, an internist and researcher at Cambridge Health Alliance, blamed both the manufacturers who put “profit ahead of consumer health” as well as “lax oversight” by the FDA for the “problem,” according to the AP.  “There should be significant legal and financial consequences for manufacturers who the FDA finds to be continuing to sell these spiked supplements,” Cohen said.

In response to the study, a trade association representing the dietary supplement industry, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, “said in a statement that the research finding suggests the FDA’s enforcement system works,” according to the Boston Globe. The group notes, according to the paper, “given that only 18 out of 273 recalled products still had active drugs in their ingredients, ‘the FDA’s recall efforts had a more than 93 percent success rate.’”

If you have experienced complications with any type of supplement medicine, contact Chhabra & Gibbs by going to our website at http://www.cglawms.com  or calling 601-948-8005

Study spotlights medication errors among children

Reports are showing  that every eight minutes, a child below 6 years of age experienced a medication error between 2002 and 2012, citing an analysis of calls to poison control hotlines that was unveiled in the journal Pediatrics. While most previous studies focused on medication errors in hospital and clinics, this study focused on errors outside of the doctor’s office or hospital.

      

Highlighting the significance of the study, other  reports show that although “the majority of the incidents were not life-threatening, medication errors nonetheless represent a major public health concern” in the US, “affecting more than 200,000 children annually – roughly 30 percent of whom are 6 or younger.” Still, the report notes, “starting in the mid-2000s, errors involving cough and cold medications as well as asthma treatments declined significantly.”

If you have experienced complications with any type of medications for your child, contact Chhabra & Gibbs by going to our website at http://www.cglawms.com  or calling 601-948-8005.

Lawyer tells jurors in hip implants case company ignored problems

Bloomberg News provides an update on the legal case related to Johnson & Johnson’s Pinnacle hip implants, noting a lawyer told jurors that the company’s “bid to convince doctors the metal-on-metal version of its Pinnacle hip implants were safe amounted to ‘marketing run amok.’” Mark Lanier, a lawyer for a Montana woman who filed the lawsuit after complications, noted J&J’s DePuy “unit ignored signs the Pinnacle hips suffered from design flaws and assured doctors the metal devices worked ‘99.9 percent of the time.’” The lawsuit claims the metal hips by J&J, “leeched cobalt and chromium material into her bloodstream, causing an infection that required the devices to be surgically removed.”

If you have experienced complications with any type of hip implants, contact Chhabra & Gibbs by going to our website at http://www.cglawms.com  or calling 601-948-8005.

Common Questions in Social Security Part Three

Is it important to receive medical treatment for the conditions which cause me to be unable to work?

YES.  It is extremely important to receive medical treatment for those conditions which cause you to be disabled.  The social security administration and the judges rely on this information to make a determination about your disability.

What should I do if I cannot afford medical treatment for my conditions that cause me to be disabled?

You should contact my office at the number below in order to receive a list of low cost or free medical clinics around the state that you can go to for treatment.

Teresa Harvey

CG Law Group, P. A.

CG Law Group, P. A., an affiliated firm of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. that was formed by the founding members of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. to meet the growing needs of the firm’s clients without compromising the attorney’s abilities to focus on a particular area of law.  Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. is able to give top rate competent service to people who have been injured, while the affiliated CG Law Group, P.A. is able to meet the other legal needs of injured people like estate and chancery work, social security disability, and discrimination cases.  Together, we strive to assure that our client’s rights are upheld and that their best interests are served. Contact Chhabra & Gibbs or CG Law Group today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

Common Questions in Social Security Part Two

Should I have an attorney to help me with my social security appeals?

Yes.  Attorneys who work in the area of social security are familiar with what needs to be shown in order for you to receive a favorable decision of being disabled.  Attorneys are must better prepared to handle the hearing and the questions from the judge and to the vocational expert.

How are attorneys paid for their work on my social security case?

If the attorney fee agreement is approved, the attorney receives 25% of the back benefits to which you are entitled, up to a maximum of $6,000.  The attorney only receives a portion of the back benefits and does not receive anything out of the benefits you receive after the favorable decision.

Teresa Harvey

CG Law Group, P. A.

CG Law Group, P. A., an affiliated firm of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. that was formed by the founding members of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. to meet the growing needs of the firm’s clients without compromising the attorney’s abilities to focus on a particular area of law.  Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. is able to give top rate competent service to people who have been injured, while the affiliated CG Law Group, P.A. is able to meet the other legal needs of injured people like estate and chancery work, social security disability, and discrimination cases.  Together, we strive to assure that our client’s rights are upheld and that their best interests are served. Contact Chhabra & Gibbs or CG Law Group today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

Common Questions in Social Security Part One

Can I receive disability if I have returned to work?

Yes.  If you were disabled and unable to work for 12 months or more, you can apply for a closed period of disability for the time you were out of work.  A closed period of disability is for those individuals who could not work for a period of 12 or more months but recovered and were able to return to work.

Can you receive social security benefits if you are only temporarily disabled?

Yes.  See No. 1 above regarding a closed period of disability.

How long does it take to be approved for social security disability?

It depends.  Very few people are approved upon their initial application.  Once the initial application is denied (usually within a few months of applying), you file what is known as the request for reconsideration.  It then usually takes a few months in order for the social security administration to rule upon the reconsideration.  If that is denied, you then must file a request for hearing before an administrative law judge.  This is where most people are approved for disability.  It takes approximately one year from the time you file the request for hearing until you actually get in front of a judge for that hearing.

Teresa Harvey

CG Law Group, P. A.

CG Law Group, P. A., an affiliated firm of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. that was formed by the founding members of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. to meet the growing needs of the firm’s clients without compromising the attorney’s abilities to focus on a particular area of law.  Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. is able to give top rate competent service to people who have been injured, while the affiliated CG Law Group, P.A. is able to meet the other legal needs of injured people like estate and chancery work, social security disability, and discrimination cases.  Together, we strive to assure that our client’s rights are upheld and that their best interests are served. Contact Chhabra & Gibbs or CG Law Group today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

Pfizer facing wave of lawsuits over anti-cholesterol treatment

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is facing a mounting wave of lawsuits by women who allege that the company knew about possible serious side effects of its blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor but never properly warned the public.

In the past five months, lawsuits by women in the United States, who say that taking Lipitor gave them type 2 diabetes, have gone from 56 to 1,000.

Lawsuits began to be filed not long after the Food and Drug Administration in 2012 warned that Lipitor and other statins had been linked to incidents of memory loss and a "small increased risk" of diabetes. According to plaintiffs' lawyers, women face a higher risk than men of developing diabetes from using Lipitor, and gain fewer benefits.

The recent growth in lawsuits followed a decision by a federal judicial panel to consolidate all Lipitor diabetes lawsuits from around the country into a single Federal courtroom in Charleston, South Carolina. Pfizer opposed the consolidation, arguing it would prompt copycat filings. The first case is scheduled to be tried next July.

Pfizer said in a statement that it denied liability and would fight the lawsuits.

It is not uncommon for a drug maker to get hit with thousands of lawsuits over its products after the FDA orders a label change alerting users to newly found risks. Takeda Pharmaceutical, for instance, is facing more than 3,500 federal lawsuits since 2011 when the FDA ordered it to update the label on its diabetes drug Actos to warn about bladder cancer. Takeda has denied liability.

But several factors set the Lipitor diabetes cases apart from those against other drug companies. For one, Lipitor is the best-selling prescription drug of all time, racking up global sales of more than $130 billion since it went on the market in 1996. More than 29 million patients in the United States have been prescribed the drug, suggesting there is a vast pool of potential plaintiffs.

On the other hand, potentially complicating matters for plaintiffs, the FDA emphasized the benefits of statins even as it warned of the risks.

When the labeling change was released in 2012, a top FDA official underscored that the agency still stood behind the drugs: "Clearly, we think that the heart benefit of statins outweighs this small increased risk (for diabetes)," Amy Egan, a deputy director for safety at the agency's Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology, said in a statement at the time.

Statins are a class of drugs that block the liver's production of cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart disease. Type 2 diabetes, once known as adult-onset or noninsulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition that affects the way the body metabolizes glucose.

The seemingly mixed message from the FDA suggests that litigation will focus on two questions: how big a diabetes risk do women using Lipitor face, and whether that risk is mitigated by the drug's cardiovascular benefits.

The nearly 1,000 cases filed so far represent 4,000 women, and that the number of cases could ultimately reach 10,000 or more.

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by the anti-cholesterol drug known as Lipitor, and you believe it caused harm and/or diabetes, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.