What Should You Do if I Find Out a Drug You Have Been Taking Is Dangerous or Defective?

Pharmaceutical products are strictly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In a perfect world, those drug regulations would be sufficient to safeguard consumer health and welfare. However, recent legislation and regulations have created shortcuts and loopholes for pharmaceutical juggernauts to haphazardly release new drug products into the stream of commerce in a very expedited fashion.

What Happens to Potentially Dangerous or Defective Drugs?

This expedited introduction of drugs and medical products into the marketplace translates into less research time for the pharmaceutical companies to perform clinical trials and tests. They are at a marked disadvantage in learning the potential side effects, risks, and dangers associated with use of a potentially dangerous or defective drug. This phenomenon has led to a large rise in the incidences of injuries resulting from dangerous or defective drugs. The FDA may step in and order a drug recall in these cases. However, this may happen relatively late in the game. As such, the dangerous or defective drug will have remained on retail shelves available to consumers for far too much time.

What Are Some Recently Identified Dangerous or Defective Drugs?

Dangerous and defective drug lawyers have identified and targeted some pharmaceutical drugs in recent years and months for their litigation and/or class action efforts. These pharmaceutical drugs are among the most popular and best-selling medications on the market. They include:

• Vioxx
• Paxil
• Zocor
• Celebrex
• Bextra
• various diet drugs

How Do Individual Plaintiffs Bring Defective or Dangerous Drug Claims Against Big Pharma Companies?

The first step for an individual plaintiff who wants to take on a major pharmaceutical company (whether seeking to litigate independently or as part of a class action) is to seek the prompt and early consult of an attorney who deals in the field of product liability law, specifically in dangerous and defective drug lawsuits. Such attorneys know how to leverage witnesses, expert witnesses, scientific studies and medical studies to create an individualized litigation plan for aggressively trying these cases, or posturing for the best possible settlement if a trial becomes unnecessary to resolve the claim.