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Four Fosamax lawsuits filed in New Jersey |
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Thursday, 26 July 2007 |
Four patients have filed Fosamax lawsuits in New Jersey Superior Court against Merck, the manufacturer of the drug. The lawsuits allege that taking Fosamax caused the four individuals to develop osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a condition that causes the bones of the jaw to decay.
Fosamax is part of a class of drugs known as bisphosphonates, which are designed to treat patients with osteoporosis or Paget’s disease. After it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1995, Fosamax has since become one of Merck’s best-selling drugs, averaging about $3 billion in sales per year.
According to one of the patients’ Fosamax attorneys, Merck received information in the 1990s and 2000s that the drug could cause ONJ, but failed to alert patients of this risk of Fosamax side effects. Several studies have shown that chemotherapy patients who take bisphosphonates such as Fosamax are at an elevated risk of developing ONJ.
Another of the patients’ Fosamax lawyers says that he has already identified at least 30 more Fosamax lawsuits that will be filed in the future. The number of lawsuits brought by patients who have suffered Fosamax side effects has become so numerous that judges have begun to group them together when possible in order to speed up the trial process. |