Roche Must Pay $13M In Accutane Lawsuits
8 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // November 19th, 2008 // 5:09 pm
A New Jersey state court jury this afternoon awarded $12,895,500 to three plaintiffs who claim that their inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was caused by the drugmaker’s acne med, according to Mealey’s Emerging Drug & Devices.
Kelly Mace, Lance Sager and Jordan Speisman each took Accutane and claimed that it caused IBD, resulting in serious, permanent injuries. They sued Roche’s US unit, Hoffmann-La Roche, in a New Jersey Superior Court, and their cases were transferred to an Accutane mass tort in Atlantic County. The cases were the first to be tried as a group after two earlier single-plaintiff trials.
A source told Mealey the eight-member jury awarded $128,000 for future medical expenses and $1.5 million for pain and suffering to Mace, $125,000 for future medical expenses and $2.5 million for pain and suffering to Sager and $142,500 for future medical expenses and $8.5 million for pain and suffering to Speisman.
The verdicts follow two earlier plaintiff verdicts in IBD cases in the same court. In May 2007, a jury awarded one plaintiff $2.6 million, although the verdict is on appeal. In April, another jury awarded a plaintiff $10.6 million, and post-trial motions are pending (back story).
Salmon
This is quite interesting.
Accutane is retinoic acid. Representative Stupak’s son committed suicide after being placed on Accutane. It’s structure is such that I expect it might be metabolized by mitochondria and gum up the works there in certain individuals.
Drugs that might also effect these pathways include valproic acid and omega 3 fatty acids. Both of which are used or studied for psychiatric illnesses, and omega 3 fatty acids for cardiovascular disease.
Mitochondrial activity might also be revved up as a downstream effect on serotonin receptors, in addition note that the drugs used to treat irritable bowel syndrome act on 5HT3 serotonin receptors.
Now all of this is only speculative, but if individuals have certain mutations in these various interconnected pathways then this could in part explain some of the toxicities and why some individuals get rate side effects whereas others don’t.
Salmon
Paul
Sounds a lot like “being vaccinated made me get autism”. I suspect the affected individuals either were predisposed to IFD or already had it. When I was on the drug I tanned nicely (can I sue in the event of skin cancer?) and my mucous membranes all dried up (blood nose anyone?).
At least the substance is not as toxic as real vitamin A of which the major side effect is death.
Scott
Accutane is a pretty intense drug although it may be a big leap say is can cause IBD. I took it for about 3 months, during which, I became depressed and lost some of my night vision. With that said though, my skin never looked better. Why someone would take this drug for 9 years is beyond me.
Lisa Van S
Salmon,… Why dont we just ask Dr.B…
Willia,
This is wonderful. That drug causes some major problems and the people affected deserve compensation.
Cynthia
I think this is a shame. America is so overly litigious, punishing the very companies that provide life-saving (or in this case, FACE-saving) meds. I’m a former accutane patient. If this med is taken as directed (with plenthy of food, and only for the recommended time of 15 to 20 WEEKS), it should not cause the illness that the patients who sued Roche are accusing it of.
For me, it was a miracle drug, when nothing else would work to clear my severe nodular/cystic acne. I wish Roche had contacted me to testify, because I know first hand that if you ignore the instructions and take it without food, YES, you will get very severe stomach cramping and IBS symptoms. As soon as I figured out that it was my own failure to take as directed that was causing my problem and began to take with a full meal, like magic the IBS symptoms went away.
Salmon
Cynthia,
There is a big, big, big difference between Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) causes intermittent cramping, constipation and cramping. Now the cramping can be so severe that you can’t walk and the diarrhea can come on so suddenly that you soil yourself but this is nothing compared to IBD.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) on the other hand includes both Ulcerative Colitis and Chron’s Disease.
In ulcerative colitis whole segments of the colon get multiple small ulcerations with bleeding and scarring.
Chron’s Disease effects the small intestines and you get severe inflammation of whole sections of the intestines (a cobblestone road effect) and scarring.
Both cause malabsorption and may require emergency surgury to cut out whole sections of the intestines to avoid death. You may have to live with ostomy bags for the rest of your life and during the recurrent flareups may need to be fed intravenously for months or years at a time, possibly while living in a hospital during a flareup even without the surgury. You may also need steroids and other immunosuppressive drugs to suppress these recurrences. Some of the side effects of the drugs include diabetes, psychosis and AIDS-like infections.
Chron’s disease is so bad that for the first 15 years after Chrone (a pathologist) identified it, it was only diagnosed at autopsy.
Salmon
Sarah
Cynthia,
I was given accutane at twelve years old. At that time there were no warnings that Accutane could cause IBS or IBD. Further research has shown that the drug company failed to inform patients of this possibility. I am happy for you that your IBS symptoms went away like magic. However, image being in that much pain everyday. IBD is a serious complication from Accutane. IBD can also cause cancer. So I ask you…Should a drug company not be held liable for not educating the doctors and patients they recommened use this drug? And if your answer is no my next question is why? If my parents had been made aware of this I would not be up for the battle of my life. I have not sued anyone but I cannot fault those who have. The only people being awarded $$$ from this are the ones who took it before all warning were released. How much is your life worth to you?
Oh and please do not for one second think that the victims have managed to put even the smallest dent into the Roche wallet.