Category Archives: Drug Side Effects

2/5/2013 TwoLondon legal teams have launched a lawsuit against the maker of a popular acne medication. Legate& Associates and Harrison Pensa will represent a Toronto woman in her legal battle over the devastating side effects the drug 'Accutane' has had on her life. A Toronto woman is seeking well over $5 million dollars in damages that she claims is directly linked to her use of the acne medication. Jennifer Twamley was 17 years old when she was prescribed the popular drug to help her complexion. She says it was after her six month stint with the drug that she began to battle inflammatory bowel disease. "Within about a year or so of taking the drug, I started experiencing some bowel symptoms. In 1999, I was diagnosed with Colitis, and so that lead to much more significant symptoms of blood in diarrhea and bathroom frequency, urgency, that sort of thing." Twamley believes the drug maker Hoffmann-La Roche is solely responsible for her current condition. "At the time, we were not informed at all about the implications of this drug in causing inflammatory bowel disease, and if I had known at 17 when I was looking to treat bad acne that it … Continue reading →

For movie details, please click here. The films ad campaign hinted at something vaguely related to Contagion, playing up the fact that both movies share a director (Soderbergh) and screenwriter (Scott Z. Burns), and that they are structured around a specific modern-day fear. While that pandemic film was more a fully realized, flesh-and-blood fictional story than it was a docudrama, Side Effects is really a sleekly constructed noir where the pharmaceutical topicality is mostly backdrop. Taylor is a 28-year-old graphic designer who looks somewhat adrift in her Manhattan apartment. She is awaiting the return of her husband Martin (Channing Tatum), sentenced to prison four years before for insider trading. The film starts up just before his release, a day shes eagerly awaiting. Once hes out, though, she seems unable to control her depression. The crying at work is one thing; ramming her car head-on into a wall is another. Taken to the hospital, shes examined by a psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law). Hes concerned about her suicidal tendencies, but takes Emilys word that shell start coming in for therapy and take her medications, so he lets her go. At first, Side Effects looks like its going to be Emilys … Continue reading →

LONDON, ON, Feb. 4, 2013 /CNW/ - When Jennifer Twamley was prescribed Accutane at 17 to control her acne, little did she know the long-term impact the drug would have on her life. Twamley, 33, now suffers from Ulcerative Colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which lawyers Barb Legate of Legate & Associates and Dave Williams of Harrison Pensa say is a side effect of Accutane. Twamley has undergone two surgeries, including removal of her colon. "It's been devastating," says Twamley, whose career and lifestyle have been drastically curtailed. "I wish I had never taken that drug. Having a chronic illness is isolating." Twamley, a television producer, is suing drug maker Hoffmann-La Roche over Accutane in what is known as a mass tort, one of the first in Canada involving the acne drug. The lawsuit was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. A mass tort is a group of lawsuits involving individuals who share similar complaints as a result of their experiences with a drug or defective product. Mass torts are common in the United States, where Roche has already been successfully sued for millions of dollars in connection with the manufacture and sale of Accutane. Roche stopped … Continue reading →

Health Canada is ramping up efforts to get more doctors to report when their patients suffer side effects to medications. The campaign, which the federal regulator hopes will improve drug safety, follows a Toronto Star investigation that revealed problems with Health Canadas monitoring of patient side effects. The investigation found side effects are under-reported, in part because of a flawed drug safety law that does not require Canadas medical professionals to report serious adverse reactions to drugs. Though the system remains voluntary, Health Canada is now placing notices in 22 journals for health professionals that explain the process and importance of reporting adverse side effects. Health Canada also commissioned Accreditation Canada, a nonprofit organization that assesses the performance of many of Canadas hospitals and other health facilities, to develop a new standard on reporting adverse side effects. The reports, which detail reactions as varied as nausea to convulsions to suicide, are intended to play a pivotal role in regulating drug safety. While increased reporting is important, the Stars investigation found Health Canada was not alerting the public to the magnitude of these side effects. This is because the regulator has not analyzed the data it collects. After a controlled-setting clinical … Continue reading →

Steven Soderbergh, who has tackled such hot-button topics as environmental pollution (Erin Brockovich), the war on drugs (Traffic) and epidemiological preparedness (Contagion) in the course of his multi-faceted career, takes on the pharmaceutical industry and the pills it promotes to treat depression in his newest film, Side Effects, which premiered Thursday night in New York at the AMC Lincoln Square. A thriller, Side Effects takes a closer look at antidepressant drugs -- and the writers and producers behind the film were not shy about their desire to explore the often-taboo topic. "There are a lot of people who suffer from depression, and a lot of those people are certainly helped by medication, the films screenwriter,Scott Z. Burns, said. "And then there are a lot of people who are sad, who are not depressed, who see ads on TV and feel these medications might be a shortcut to the place they want to go. And thats a concern. I think that when psychiatry is, like any branch of medicine, when its practiced responsibly, thats a great thing." The film stars Rooney Mara as Emily, a depressed woman whose husband (Channing Tatum) is unshackled after four years in prison for insider trading. … Continue reading →

In what he insists is his final big-screen feature film, at least for the foreseeable future, Steven Soderbergh employs his dramatic know-how and superior craftsmanship to initially lure you into a story that you ultimately cant buy into at all in Side Effects. Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns story of a young wife whose well-being and behavior are seemingly impaired by a succession of prescription drugs has the veneer of a serious expos of a perceived epidemic of doctor-approved drug use (Burns also wrote Soderberghs recent mass-infection thriller Contagion). But in trying to merge this alarmist theme with an old-fashioned murder mystery, the filmmakers throw at least one plot-twist sucker-punch too many, leaving the viewer with an Oh, come on reaction to the entire film. Despite the classy pedigree and fine cast, Open Road likely will drum up only limited business for this nicely wrapped package in specialized release. PHOTOS: I'm Quitting the Biz: 16 Hollywood Retirements (and 'Retirements') Depending upon exactly how you count, Soderbergh has directed about 27 feature films in the 24 years since he burst on the scene with sex, lies & videotape, a remarkable output given the two or three years it takes most major directors … Continue reading →

OTTAWA The steroid Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is taking for a rare skin condition can cause anxiety and nervousness and, in rarer cases, serious psychological side effects including depression, confusion and even psychosis. In a statement issued Thursday morning, Flahertys office acknowledged he was taking prednisone, a commonly-prescribed corticosteroid drug, to treat a non-life threatening, but serious dermatological condition known as Bullous Pemphigoid. The side effects of prednisone are serious enough that its use by airline pilots is limited by aviation authorities in the U.S. But, as Flaherty prepares to deliver a federal budget, likely in March, his office contends the drug is not affecting his job performance. Rumours about Flahertys health have circulated on Parliament Hill for months, but it appears that an uncharacteristically sluggish TV interview in Switzerland last week compelled him to go public with his condition and treatment. Flaherty, 63, was in Davos to represent Canada at the high-profile annual conference of the World Economic Forum. In the interview with Bloomberg taped on Friday morning, Flaherty spoke with a thickened voice at times, sounded breathless at others, and gave short answers to questions on topics ranging from Canadian monetary policy to the departure of Bank of … Continue reading →

New York, NY (PRWEB) January 31, 2013 The prescription drug resource center DrugRisk.com is alerting women using the vaginal ring contraceptive NuvaRing of new information added to the site showing the number of blood clot claims has increased in recent months. This, as a leading research group, added new warnings for the device. DrugRisks goal is to improve patient safety through education of the latest drug warnings, recalls, studies and litigation news. Well-informed patients can better discuss their side effect options with their doctor and decide if they need to seek legal advice, explains DrugRisk representative Ryan Mayer. The resource center has added warnings from health experts that link vaginal ring contraceptives like NuvaRing to higher risks of blood clots than traditional birth control pills. The British Medical Journal published a Danish study on May 10, 2012 linking vaginal rings like NuvaRing to as much as a 90% increased risk of blood clots over oral contraceptives.* On June 14, 2012, the New England Journal of Medicine also published a study finding vaginal ring contraceptives could relate to a 2.5 to 3-fold increased risk of blood clots.** This month, DrugRisk learned of research at Brigham and Womens Faulkner Hospital that found … Continue reading →

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) January 31, 2013 The prescription drug information center DrugRisk.com is alerting those taking the blood thinner Pradaxa of updated information on the site regarding ongoing Pradaxa bleeding lawsuits. The judge presiding over the cases recently denied a request by the maker of the drug to hide prior charges of fraud.**** The goal of DrugRisk is to improve patient safety through education of the latest drug warnings, recalls, studies and litigation news. By staying updated, patients can have informed discussions with their doctor and decide if they should seek legal advice, explains DrugRisk representative Ryan Mayer. Reports on DrugRisk show that experts still disagree about Pradaxa bleeding risks. The FDA recently issued an update that the drug carries the same risks as warfarin.* However, the Americal College of Cardiology has warned that Pradaxa use can significantly increase the risk of bleeding complications compared to warfarin.** Meanwhile, the resource center recently added a report from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices which ranks anticoagulants like Pradaxa among the highest risk outpatient drugs. The Institute also found that hemorrhage cases submitted to the FDA show bleeding from Pradaxa was nearly 5 times as likely to result in death than with … Continue reading →

Should I Take Statin Drugs For Elevated Cholesterol? Are There Side Effects? http://www.naturalfoodsdiet.org Today I want to speak to the multitudes of people out there that have been put on statin drugs for elevated cholesterol. If you have been watching my videos, you know that the only groups that shown a clear mortality benefit in randomized clinical trials are men under 70 with documented coronary artery disease (had a heart attack) and for men that smoke that have an elevated CRP. But doctors in the USA put almost all patients with high cholesterol on these drugs, even though there is questionable mortality benefit. In the United Kingdom there is a proposal to put ALL men over 50 and women over 60 on statins. So what's the harm you ask? One harm is increased mortality that shows up in some studies; like cancer and suicides. There are also the common side effects of memory problems and muscle pain. Please leave a comment below this video and we will be sure to respond! If you find this information helpful, please "Share" it with your friends and family by clicking the "Share" button below this video. Also, if you could give this … Continue reading →