› $4.85 Billion settlement in drug case
Two lawsuits were recently filed against Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Actavis Group, Actavis Totowa LLC, Mylan Bertek Pharmaceuticals Inc., and UDL Laboratories Inc., makers and distributors of the heart medication Digitek, also known as digoxin, on behalf of patients who took Digitek prescribed by their physicians and as a result suffered complications and died, according to the West Virginia The Record.
Individuals suing manufacturers of Digitek heart medicine must fill out lengthy and detailed fact sheets on their medical history and allow no secrets from their past, according to The West Virginia Record.
The fact sheets will be used in court to determine whether Mylan Pharmaceuticals of West Virginia, Actavis US and DUL Laboratories misrepresented Digitek as safe and whether physicians and patients relied on those “misrepresentations and deceptions” in choosing to use the heart medicine.
Nicholas Chandler, a 23-year-old resident of Alabama, died after consuming Digitek (Digozin) on Jan. 9, 2009. His doctor prescribed Digitek (Digozin) in order to correct his heart condition that could not be corrected by other medications. Chandler suffered toxicity after taking the medication.
Chandler’s wife Barbara Chandler deems the defendants negligent because Digitek was distributed to the public with twice the amount of the active ingredient, according to the West Virginia Record.
The paper reports, “Digitek (Digozin) has a narrow therapeutic index and has a limited margin between effectiveness and toxicity. Chandler, as administratix of the estate is seeking judgment, jointly and severly, (sic.) from all defendants, pre and post judgment interest and costs.”
U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin, who is striving to resolve the national litigation over Digitek, wants separate complaints from separate plaintiffs. On December 2, he signed an order stating that all Digitek attorneys who have numerous plaintiffs in single suits must separate the claims.
According to Huntington News, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) has ordered that all federal lawsuits about the double strength, defected Digitek be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. This development in the lawsuit is taken as a result of the April 2008 recall on Digitek. Some tablets were twice as thick as usual, made with the double amount of medication.
