Going After Drug Companies

According to George W. Ilchert, Esq., a partner with Lurie, Ilchert, Mac Donnell and Ryan, LLP (www.limrlaw.com), a personal injury law firm with experience in pharmaceutical litigation, based on its knowledge of the risks that Avandia posed, GlaxoSmithKline had a duty to warn patients and the FDA in a timely manner, the Senate report said. However, the company did not.

“Instead of doing the right thing, GlaxoSmithKline downplayed their own findings that the drug could increase the risk of heart attacks and also downplayed the fact that a rival medication could reduce those risks,” says Ilchert. “In fact, there is evidence to suggest that the company knew of these risks for years before the evidence was made public.”

The recently released Senate report not only takes GlaxoSmithKline to task, says Ilchert, but it questions why the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed a clinical trial of Avandia to continue even after the agency estimated the drug had caused approximately 83,000 heart attacks between 1999 and 2007.

“The Senate’s findings are based on research studies, company documents, FDA documents, FDA employee interviews, and information from company whistle-blowers,” says Ilchert. “Although GlaxoSmithKline denies any wrongdoing and says that its own reports were taken out of context, the evidence against the drug manufacturer is mounting and, if there was deception involved then someone should be held responsible.”

Established for more than 50 years, Lurie, Ilchert, Mac Donnell & Ryan LLP, located at 475 Park Avenue South (32nd Street) New York, NY, 10016, specializes in representing victims of all types of accidents including construction and demolition, falls from ladders, scaffolds, and roofs, automobiles, trains, and busses, babies with cerebral palsy and other brain damage, general medical malpractice, saws and electrical tools without guards, and slip and fall cases. For more information, call 212-685-7417 or visit www.limrlaw.com.

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