Category: Medical
MS Tecfidera medication caused liver injury to 14 people
Pharmaceutical company Biogen Inc has recently received a scare from its big-selling oral multiple sclerosis drug, Tecfidera.
Tecfidera has been well-known to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis, and although, Tecfidera’s historic side effects have been linked with serious viral infections to the brain, which could lead to disability or death, more recently, the medicine has been linked to liver injuries.
Of the 230,000 patients treated with Biogen’s Tecfidera, there have been 14 reported cases of liver injury, according to a Biogen spokeswoman.
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Heart pump device production has been halted due to patient death
A medical device manufacturer has stopped the production and use of a heart pump device following the death of a patient.
Abbott Laboratories, an American-based worldwide healthcare company, has halted the use of the HeartMate PHP catheter following a patient death and several malfunctions in the U.S. and in Europe.
The device was initially thought to be commercially promising, but the problems identified are serious.
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Class 4 MHRA alert: Mirena inserters incorrectly mounted
Bayer plc, a global pharmaceutical company, has received two complaints with regards to its Mirena inserters. The complaints detail that the insertion tube was mounted inversely to the handle, and this has led to an inversion of the insertion depth scale, which may lead to incorrect insertion depth; consequently reducing the efficacy and/or causing injuries.
An investigation has shown that both complaints involve one batch of inserters and a Mirena batch number TU01BPE. The affected batch was first distributed on 29th August 2016, with an expiry in June 2019.
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Arthritis tablets may adversely affect users who rely solely on Braille
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recently issued a caution relating to a drug that treats adult patients with active rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis.
Global pharmaceutical company Sanofi informed the medical agency of the error on the Braille on the packaging of some batches of the Arava 10mg film-coated tablets. The affected batches were distributed in May 2016, August 2016, September 2016 and October 2016 with batch numbers 5JK2A, 5JK3A, 5JK6G and 6EV2A accordingly.
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Lawsuits against J&J for defective hip implants
J&J has had a rough time of late with the J&J talcum-powder lawsuit in which victims argued the use of such powder was a strong cause for ovarian cancer. On top of that we have the ongoing cases for hip replacement products that have been pursued across the world for several years now.
A $1 billion (£813 million) fine was slapped on both J&J and its subsidiary, Depuy Orthopaedics, after a Texas jury found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed, and that no warnings were given to consumers to highlight the risk.
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Using non-recommended syringe with Alaris syringe pumps could be a health risk
There is a reported risk with the use of non-recommended syringes in Alaris syringe pumps, manufactured by CareFusion.
The non-recommended syringes are reported to have a broken spring in the plunger which may cause unintended bolus (usually chewed up mass in the mouth) of medication.
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Chewy calcium and vitamin-D tablets are being recalled for impurities
Teva U.K. Limited – a global pharmaceutical company – has recalled a batch of class 2 medicines due to a possible metal contamination.
The pharmaceutical company has recently made a precautionary batch recall for a ‘small number’ of Evacal D3 chewable tablets. The tablets are a calcium-vitamin D supplement used to treat a lack of calcium and vitamin D, predominantly in the elderly.
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Healthcare apps pose health and data protection risks
With all this technology, you’d have thought that apps were advanced enough to detect health dangers. However, this unfortunately may not be the case for many smartphone health apps.
We as Group Action Lawyers represent victims for Medical Group Actions and Data Breach Group Actions, so this is right up our avenue of experience.
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Sanofi Depakote epilepsy drug that reportedly caused birth defects in 10,000 unborn babies
Valproate Semisodium, better known as Depakote, has reportedly put more than 10,000 pregnant women at risk in France, and there are raising concerns that the same amount of women in the U.K. may also be affected by the epilepsy drug.
Our Group Action Lawyers are investigating the issues, and anyone affected here in the U.K. is free to come forward for confidential and no obligation advice.
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Updated advice on the recent Stockert 3T heater-cooler issues
The Stockert 3T heater-coolers used during certain surgeries have been linked to a dangerous microorganism, Mycobacterium chimaera.
The manufacturers of the ‘deadly device’ have now issued advice in relation to managing and cleaning the device as part of ongoing investigations.
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In recent years, there have been deaths allegedly linked to the use of Medtronic infusion pumps
Since its introduction into the market, the Medtronic infusion pump has been apparently overwhelmed with problems.
In recent years, problems that have been linked to the use of the pumps have reportedly caused dozens of deaths. As such, health authorities and the manufactures are in the process of taking appropriate action, and we’ll be looking in to whether there is any negligence here.
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Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Pelvic Floor Prolapse recall – we’re still taking cases forward
Birmingham surgeon Dr. Angamuthu Arunkalaivanan performed hundreds of the pelvic floor surgeries using a mesh implant that the Trust he worked for had banned from using.
Dr. Arunkalaivanan seemingly ignored the Trust’s instructions and carried on inserting these mesh implants into hundreds of women despite the warnings from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) of incontinence and infection, and his own Trust’s policy on their use.
Some 200 patients who have undergone pelvic floor surgeries with Dr. Arunkalaivanan have been recalled to be checked. However, pelvic floor operations are so routine that it may be many more than 200 woman affected by the surgeons actions.
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