Defective Drug Attorneys
Defective drugs injure millions of people annually and can even cause death in the worst cases. According to the CDC, each year about 1.3 million emergency room visits are related to adverse drug reactions. If a drug manufacturer has failed to adequately test for risks in its clinical trials or fails to warn patients about the dangers of taking a drug, that can result in irreparable damage to patients’ health and lives. Families suffer from lost wages, poor quality of life, and high medical bills.
DRUG COMPANIES NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE IF THEY CAUSED YOU INJURY OR HARM.
Hospitals, insurance companies, and drug companies want to push you aside. They’ll say it’s not their problem – that you did something wrong and brought this on yourself. But you know what? They’re not being honest.
Does this situation sound familiar to you? Your doctor prescribed a medication, which you used according to instructions. Now you’re suffering side effects – serious side effects. And the injuries weren’t your fault.
You can and should pursue justice through a defective drug lawsuit. At Farah & Farah, we help you recover the maximum possible recovery or verdict from the people who caused your injury – so you can focus on recovering from what the defective drug did to you without financial hardship.
Get Financial Relief for Harm Caused by Defective Drugs
A defective drug can cause harm that can impact more than just your health. You might find that your ability to work and conduct daily activities is affected by the defective drug. This means that, on top of mounting medical bills, you might also lose wages.
If you have been harmed by a defective drug, you may be eligible for financial relief from the manufacturer of the medication, who should be held responsible for their role in causing that harm. Defective drugs can be caused by design issues, manufacturing errors, or even a failure to warn of possible risks.
Who Is the CDER?
The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research(CDER) is the branch of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is responsible for the assessment of new drugs of all kinds, from over-the-counter and generic medicines to prescriptions. The CDER has a six- to ten-month approval process that pharmaceutical companies must successfully pass for each new drug they want to sell.
Who Conducts the Research for New Drugs?
The testing and clinical trials, which can take up to ten years, are performed by the pharmaceutical company prior to the application process. As a result, the CDER’s evaluation relies heavily on the results provided by the company. The CDER reviews the results of the clinical trials, the usage directions, the patient information, safety information, the information on the label, and the potential for abuse of the drug before making a decision.
Accelerating the Evaluation Process
The CDER offers four different options for companies to speed up the evaluation process:
- Fast Track: A process used to prioritize drugs that either treat a serious illness or fulfill an otherwise unmet need.
- Breakthrough Therapy: A designation for treatments for serious illnesses that are much more effective than anything currently on the market.
- Accelerated Approval: A process to fast-track drugs that haven’t yet proven a clinical benefit, but do demonstrate evidence of a clinical benefit and fulfill a currently unmet medical need.
- Priority Review: A designation for drugs the CDER wants to approve within six months instead of ten.
All four of these processes provide companies with ways to decrease the amount of time required for CDER approval, so they can get their drugs on the market and sell to customers more quickly.
Efficacy of CDER Approval Systems
The CDER’s approval systems are supposed to be impartial and prevent bad drugs from making their way onto the market, but pharmaceutical companies fund a lot of the CDER’s research and also provide payments to the doctors who monitor medications. Up to 75% of the CDER’s funding comes from pharmaceutical companies, according to an FDA advisor.
This could allow pharmaceutical companies to put pressure on the CDER and on doctors to approve drugs that may not be tested thoroughly enough or that might have more harmful side effects than benefits. That pressure can lead to the CDER waiving the requirement for clinical trials or approving drugs that have not been approved elsewhere in the world. In 1995, the CDER bowed to pressure from pharmaceutical companies and approved Oxycontin, which led to the beginning of the opioid epidemic.
Politics at Play
Drugs that have failed or haven’t undergone clinical trials can be rushed through the approval process. If a drug doesn’t get approved, companies reapply the following year and use their influence to ensure that members of the advisory board who warned against the drug the first time are kept out of the approval process the second time. This means that drugs can get approved, sold, and prescribed to patients before their in spite of major side effects.
Pharmaceutical Lobbyists & Political Influence
Drugs that are banned in Europe and elsewhere in the world make it onto the market in the United States. Drugs that have failed clinical trials are often approved, later causing harmful side-effects to the patients that take them. The approval of Oxycontin in 1995 without clinical trials contributed to the beginning of the opioid epidemic. If a drug isn’t approved, companies will resubmit the next year and pressure the FDA into approving them, this time without the advisory board members who had warned of the drug’s risks the year before.
With the pressure companies are capable of placing on the FDA and research scientists, as well as the fast-track approval process available, it’s possible for products to make it onto the market before dangerous side effects are fully understood. If you or a loved one has been harmed by a defective product of any kind, Farah & Farah is here to help. Our team of highly skilled attorneys has years of experience in fighting companies whose products have harmed patients and consumers, so you can seek the compensation you deserve.
Farah & Farah’s team of talented attorneys have experience fighting pharmaceutical companies on behalf of the patients defective medications may have irreparably harmed.
Why Should You Hire a Defective Drug Lawyer?
If you or someone you love has suffered due to a defective drug injury, the attorneys at Farah & Farah will provide the partnership, support, and legal guidance necessary to get the compensation you deserve. Whether your injury was caused by mistakes in the design of the drug, errors in manufacturing, mislabeling, or a failure to warn of the possible dangers of taking the drug, we help you navigate a complex and stressful situation so life can feel normal again.
With extensive resources and decades of experience in defective drug liability cases, we have the tools you need to stand up to big pharmaceutical companies, insurance providers, and hospitals. Our dedicated attorneys will help you build a compelling case and fight for justice during every step of your defective drug lawsuit, so you can achieve the best possible outcome. When you partner with Farah & Farah, you gain a higher likelihood of success in the courtroom and can earn more compensation for the injustice you experienced.
What To Expect From Our Attorneys During Your Defective Drug Lawsuit
The defective drug attorneys at Farah & Farah can answer your questions, investigate your case, and help you obtain the relief you’re looking for. When you are suffering due to no fault of your own, you deserve to be heard.
When you or someone you love has been injured by a dangerous drug in Florida or Georgia, we do everything we possibly can to help you. This includes:
- Investigating the defective drug, your adverse reaction, and the circumstances surrounding your injury
- Negotiating with hospitals about your medical bills, so you take home a larger payout when we secure your victory
- Completing all necessary paperwork from insurance companies and hospitals, so you aren’t stuck dealing with them
- Paying medical expenses and recovering lost wages through your recovery or verdict
- Fighting for the highest possible recovery, so you have the financial support necessary to get your life feeling like normal again
Types of Defective Drugs
A defective drug is a medication prescribed to treat a medical condition that causes physical, emotional, or psychological harm to the patients taking them. The defect can be caused by mistakes in the design of the drug, errors in manufacturing, mislabeling, or failure to warn of the possible dangers of taking the drug. The legal definition of a defective drug requires the drug to have caused harm or injury to patients.
Design Errors
A design error in a defective drug occurred during the original development of the drug. This typically involves a flaw in the chemical composition of the drug that renders it ineffective at best and unsafe or dangerous at worst. Even ineffective medications can cause harm because they’re not treating a health condition that requires their use.
Design errors in defective drugs can occur when the initial research and development phase doesn’t catch a certain side effect or a toxicity that could harm patients.
Manufacturing Mistakes
A manufacturing mistake occurs during the production process of a medication. This could be a defect with one or more of the materials used in production, a deviation from the design, improper packaging, contamination with a foreign substance, etc. Too much or too little of a subtance may be included.
Testing and quality control should catch mistakes like this before a defective drug can harm people, but sometimes these measures aren’t adequate and defective drugs make their way to patients anyway.
Failure To Warn
It’s common for medications to have side effects, some more common or more harmful than others. It’s up to a patient and their doctor to decide if treating a health condition with a medication is worth the possible risk of experiencing those side effects. If a pharmaceutical company has failed to adequately warn of these risks, then doctors and patients can’t make fully informed decisions regarding healthcare.
Pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturers have a duty to warn of side effects. If they haven’t, whether it’s a mistake or in an attempt to sell more of a drug, that is considered a failure to adequately warn and could leave the company liable for harm that occurs as a result of that failure.
What If I’ve Been Injured by a Defective Drug?
Defective drugs pose a serious risk to millions of Americans every year. If you have suffered due to a defective drug injury, don’t hesitate to seek the compensation and justice you deserve. Let one of Farah & Farah’s experienced defective drug attorneys represent you and take on the company that chose profit over your health. Contact us now to schedule a free consultation. You pay nothing unless your case is successful.
We’re here to help. Reach out to Farah & Farah today
You can and should pursue justice through a defective drug lawsuit. At Farah & Farah, we help you recover the maximum possible recovery or verdict from the people who caused your injury – so you can focus on recovering from what the defective drug did to you without financial hardship.
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