MyBlack^® Health

Pharmaceuticals failed to warn African Americans of drug's dangers

Source: Madison County Record

The makers of a popular drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder find themselves named as defendants in a lawsuit in which consumers claim the drug causes life-threatening skin problems, including a syndrome that causes the top layer of a person's skin to shed and die. Nineteen plaintiffs from across the country filed a lawsuit April 27 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against the makers of drug products that contain carbamazepine. Defendants include Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., CIBA Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp. Christopher Cueto of the Law Office of Christopher Cueto in Belleville will be representing them. As of May 11, the case has not yet been assigned to a judge. The plaintiffs claim doctors prescribed either them or their deceased relatives carbamazepine drug products, which caused them to develop a skin rash, itching, skin discoloration, skin exfoliation, shedding of the hair, shedding of the nails, loss of skin pigmentation, hives, burns, scarring, damaged eyesight, permanent damage to their internal organs, hypersensitivity, Stevens Johnson Syndrome or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome or a combination of all of the above.

Read Article