Accutane Class Action Lawsuit
One of the most popular drugs among adolescents and women is Accutane, a powerful oral medication that belongs to the family of the retinoids, and also called isotretinoin. A treatment with Accutane is typically 4 to 5 months long for clearing up acne for a year or so, time enough to develop other potential risks that are not advertised with the drug.
On March 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration implemented a risk management program to reduce the risk of fetal exposure, isotretinoin. Accutane is also used for the treatment of many other skin diseases, although Accutane has come under scrutiny after finding numerous risky side effects.
As derivate of Vitamin A, isotretinoin is sold by Hoffman-La Roche Pharmaceuticals under 2 brand names, Accutane and Roaccutane. This drug works by reducing the sebaceous gland activity, hence an eventual reduction of the size of localized sebaceous glands. Accutane was found as a leading factor to birth defects and other adverse effects.
The drug is usually forbidden during pregnancy due to fetal malformations, but there are a number of other side effects such as rash, dry skin and itching, increased sensitivity to sunburn, chapped lips, headache, temporary hair thinning, dryness of nose, mild nosebleed and Irritation of the eyelids and eyes. In more severe conditions, patients suffer from joint and muscle pains, intestinal and urinary symptoms.
However, the most alarming side effects, apart of those related to child birth, are the increase in depression with thoughts of suicide, and decreased night vision. Research has found that Accutane may also increase the level of blood fats to a risky levels, occasionally affecting the liver or developing into increased risk of colon cancer.
Actually, the FDA has a campaign encouraging people to avoid purchasing Accutane over the Internet, due to psychiatric side effects and possible alteration of medications out of the FDA control. While Class Action Lawsuits are on the rise everyday, the FDA has forced the pharmaceutical to create Accutane warning labels listing its potential side effects and avoidance during pregnancy.
Studies have shown that suicide rate among Accutane users may be as high as 2 suicides per month. In addition, these suicides occur in healthy people with no signs of depression or suicidal thoughts before they started using this product. And while people die due to this medication, Roche is making millions marketing a defective drug.
Accutane was introduced to the United States consumers more than 20 years ago, so it is expected that a large number of class action lawsuits being filed with many Accutane attorneys who are already competing for each victim's case. During 1999, the FDA received 168 reports of suicidal behavior associated to the drug, that Roche denied.
IN 2000, a FDA dermatology committee meeting, confirmed that 147 of those suicides were linked to patients taking Accutane, and by 2002 the agency received 3,104 reports of adverse psychiatric events involving the drug, from which 173 resulted in suicide. However, the impotence of the FDA's in regulating Accutane marketing has prevailed, increasing the estimated 5 million Accutane users in the United States.
