Category: Medical
Lawsuit filed against EpiPen manufacturers for alleged “price gouging”
A lawsuit has been filed against a medical manufacturer who are alleged to have charged higher prices for its asthma medication.
High charges for asthma medication is a hot topic here in the U.K., with many believing it’s not something people should have to pay for.
The EpiPen – the medication at the centre of the allegations – is an injector pen that contains epinephrine; a chemical that narrows blood vessels and opens airways in the lungs. It’s frequently used to treat severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) against insect stings or bites, foods, drugs etc. It’s a device that can save lives.
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Major drug manufacturers and distributors suspected of colluding to inflate profits at consumers’ expense
Several drug manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacy benefit managers have reportedly been caught colluding to fix prices for insulin.
In what’s believed to be efforts to allegedly inflate profits, companies reportedly worked together to set consistently high prices for the drugs. This way, no matter where consumers purchased their insulin from, they’d be paying high prices. By price-fixing, no company undercuts the other by offering a cheaper price, which is anti-competitive behaviour that can be extremely harmful for competition and for the consumer.
These are the accusations being brought by those bringing a legal action.
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Novo Nordisk agrees to settlement for questionable sales tactics
Danish multinational pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is one of the leading global manufacturers of medical drugs.
They stand accused of using questionable tactics to drive up sales.
Novo Nordisk reportedly took their marketing a step further by disguising salespeople as medical professionals and educators. The Novo Nordisk employees would apparently pretend to be experts in medicine and recommend the company’s own drugs like professors advertising their own textbooks to students. The drug maker is also accused of paying kickbacks to doctors and medical staff to encourage them to prescribe the company’s own medicines.
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Student nurses at the University of Derby told of possible blood contamination receive financial compensation with Group Action Lawyers
Our lawyers successfully helped former student nurses recover financial compensation for the University of Derby’s negligent actions that put them at risk of infection through blood contamination.
The cases were settled outside of court by our expert team of lawyers.
As soon as news broke of the scandal, we were on the case and offering our services to anyone affected. A number of individuals approached us for help and advice, and we took forward claims on a No Win, No Fee basis for individuals affected.
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Gilead HIV medication lawsuit reinstated
Gilead Sciences Inc, a research-based biopharmaceutical company, has recently experienced a set-back with the lawsuit filed in 2011 against them that they may have considered to have ended.
A federal appeals court has recently reinstated the lawsuit that was brought by two whistle-blowers alleging that Gilead defrauded and misled the government, as the company allegedly didn’t disclose that their HIV medicines were contaminated, which consequently allowed them to reportedly falsify data to win marketing approval for the medicine.
This false information reportedly led federal healthcare programmes to pay billions of dollars for contaminated medicine, but the case was initially dismissed by the California Court.
Now, it’s back…
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Medtronic under greater scrutiny as more of its products run into problems
Medical device maker Medtronic have been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. Priding itself as the “global leader in medical technology, services, and solutions”, Medtronic have been at the centre of a fair few recalls for defects and risks that have arisen from the use of their products.
In the latest issues, scrutiny has come from issues with their products and an alleged lack of warning for equipment incompatibility.
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Opioid lawsuits for overuse and addiction
Recently, we’ve seen a greater reliance on drugs from doctors, which include addictive painkillers like opioids. The addiction has been reported as a global epidemic, with the U.S. noting it as “the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history“.
Drug manufacturers and distributors have now found themselves in hot water as a result of the allegations.
At least 25 states in the U.S. have taken legal action against opioid manufacturers for the alleged unprecedented effect it has had on communities across America, and here in the U.K., we’re concerned we may be facing a similar epidemic.
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Depression and chronic pain relief drug, Duloxetine, recalled after failing tests
The drug Duloxetine, more commonly known as its brand name Cymbalta, is generally used to treat depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. It’s an active ‘serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor’, providing pain relief for patients with diabetes or sufferers from chronic or widespread pain.
The drug is commonly prescribed to people with arthritis and fibromyalgia. However, select batches of the Torrent Dutor Gastro-resistant Capsules have been recalled by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) because “out of specification results for dissolution were obtained during routine stability testing”.
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14,000 Medtronic ventilators recalled
Regulators have reportedly issued a recall for a number of medical ventilators manufactured by Medtronic.
The company’s New Port HY70 and HT70 Plus ventilators are being recalled amidst concerns that the devices may suddenly shutdown or reset. There have so far been 12 reported cases whereby a reset was suddenly initiated without warning. Thankfully, no patients have yet suffered an injury!
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The reported danger of Intersurgical’s BVM resuscitation device
A reported manufacturing fault of a medical device has caused a great deal of concern within the healthcare industry. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a field safety notice to notify healthcare providers and users alike.
Due to a reported manufacturing fault, the Bag-Valve-Mask (BVM) manual resuscitation system could cause injury or even death as the valve may become stuck during storage, possibly resulting in the intended airflow not being delivered. Consequently, there may be a delay in the treatment.
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Medical device alert issued for Prismaflex Haemofiltration machines
A medical device alert has been issued warning hospitals and healthcare institutions that Prismaflex Haemofiltration machines are susceptible to software failure.
Machines manufactured by Baxter, and installed with the 6.10 version of software, may not compute information about syringe size and the brand of syringe used. As a result, the machine may revert back to default settings, which means it will work at the lowest possible plunger speed which may therefore lead to under-dosage.
When under-dosing occurs, a lack of anti-coagulants may be added to the blood. Without carefully measured anti-coagulants, the patient’s blood may then be at a high risk of clotting, which can of course lead to potentially serious consequences.
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Medtronic: “Infuse lawsuits coming to a close”
Medical device company, Medtronic, has recently suffered a lengthy legal headache when the company faced allegations of defrauding shareholders by reportedly covering up negative side-effects of its Infuse bone growth product for 10 years.
Infuse is a genetically engineered protein that causes bones to fuse for use during lower spinal surgery; intended as an alternative to bone grafts. Thousands of patients complained that the product was used inappropriately and that it had caused permanent and devastating injuries.
These were allegedly covered up.
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