Dangerous Drugs Lawyers • Attorneys
Denver, Greeley, Colorado, Dangerous Medications Law Firm

We hear about it all the time. Another over-the-counter or prescription drug has been found to be harmful to the people taking it. If you suffered harm from a drug prescribed by your doctor or from an over-the-counter drug, the experienced dangerous medications lawyers at The Sawaya Law Firm would like to speak to you.

At the Colorado personal injury law firm of The Sawaya Law Firm, we want to help you. Our attorneys and staff will manage every aspect of your case - personal, medical, financial and vocational - to ensure that you will continue to have the best life possible. If you have a loved one who has died because of a drug's side effect, you and your family deserve compensation for your loss.

Call us day or night, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Someone is always available to answer your call and speak with you about your reaction to a prescribed or over-the-counter drug. Or send us an email about your case.

Denver Phone: 303-502-5010
Toll Free: 866-701-7302

We have a nationwide network of experienced attorneys who can help you regardless of where you are located.

Some of the dangerous drugs involved in lawsuits filed by our pharmaceutical liability lawyers include:

• Actos: This medication is prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes, but the FDA has recently approved updated warnings. If you took Actos before the updated warning in June 2011, and have bladder cancer you need an attorney. In Germany and France regulators suspended the use of the drug all together. Call us if you have had problems taking any of the following: Actos, Actoplus, Actoplus Met XR, and, Duetact.
• Anantidepressants: Have you taken an SSRI-antidepressant like, Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, Paxil, Prozac, or Zoloft? Studies have shown that women taking these types of antidepressants in the first trimester of pregnancy can lead to heart birth defects in their children. The cardiac defects in children were primarily atrial or ventricular septal defects, in these conditions the wall between the right and left sides of the heart does not completely develop.
• Chantix: Did you or a loved one take this medication to quit smoking and as a result battle thoughts of suicide? Chantix (USA), Champix (other countries) or Varenicline (generic) are used to treat smoking addictions, but have possibly been the cause of depression and suicide.
• Crestor: AstraZeneca manufactures the drug Crestor, used to reduce cholesterol in the blood. The FDA approved Crestor in August of 2003, since then there have been several warnings issued about serious adverse events. Crestor is a type of drug called a statin. In 2009 The Lancet published an article that suggests statins like Crestor can cause serious heart muscle problems, like cardiomyopathy. This is a condition where the heart muscle deteriorates, and patients may have difficulty breathing, rapid heartbeat, swelling of the feet or ankles, and other problems.
• Fosamax: Fosamax is a bisphosphonate, also known as alendronate sodium. Manufactured by Merck, Fosamax is used to treat and prevent osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. Osteronoecrosis of the Jaw (ONJ) is linked to Fosamax in some women according to the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. ONJ is the disfigurement and disablement of the jaw bone that causes infection and decaying of the jaw bone. If you have taken Fosamax for 3 years and have been diagnosed with low-energy femur fractures call us, we may be able to help you.
• Hormone Therapy: Women have taken hormone therapy (HT) to reduce symptoms of menopause for years, but studies now show some medicines can increase the risk of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Some brands of potentially harmful hormone therapy drugs include Prempro and Premarin. There are already many cases filed in several states and hundreds of others soon to be filed.
• Keppra Generic: This drug, also known as Levetiracetam, is an anti-epileptic drug, which is used to treat seizures in both adults and children. When a patient switches from the brand name of Keppra to the generic version they are likely to have an increase in seizures. There have been many cases reported that shortly after switching to the generic, Levetiracetam, the patient has a seizure when they may have not experienced a seizure for months prior. It can be devastating to have a single break through seizure for a patient who hasn't had a seizure in months or years. This can have overwhelming, unforeseen consequences, like injuries, loss of drivers license and death.
• Paxil: Paxil is also known as paroxetine, an anti-depressant made by GlaxoSmithKline. When mothers-to-be take Paxil there can be devastating side effects to the unborn child. There have been many adverse problems recently published, they include: omphalocele (an infant's intestines or other organs protrude from the navel), persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), or craniosynostosis (connections between skull bones prematurely close in the first year of life, and cause an abnormal shaped skull) and an increase of heart birth defects. If you were taking Paxil during pregnancy and your child was born with a birth defect, contact us, we may be able to help you.
• Reglan: If you have taken Reglan and were diagnosed with Tardive Dyskinesia call us. The FDA recently required Reglan to include a black box warning about Tardive Dyskinesia. This condition has symptoms that include the following: involuntary and repetitive movements like blinking, tongue thrusting, finger movements and head jerking. These symptoms are rarely reversible without any known treatment. The FDA recently advised physicians to avoid long term use of Reglan, because there is an increased risk for those who take Reglan for a long period of time or are elderly, especially older women. Any use of Reglan over 3 months is considered dangerous.
• Zyprexa: Until recently, Zyprexa was the primary pharmaceutical treatment for schizophrenia and a best-selling product for its manufacturer. The manufacturer has been accused of misleading users about the effectiveness of the drug and its potentially harmful side-effects, especially diabetes.
• Gadolinium: If you had an MRI it is likely you were given a contrast agent to enhance the quality of imagining. Many of these contrast agents are Gadolinium-based, which can cause put patients at risk to develop a potentially fatal disease, Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy (NFD), or Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF). These diseases can cause thickening of the skin and other organs which limit their capability to move, and can lead to severe pain or death. There are other side effects associated with these magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents: dark, rough patches on the skin with raised papules or paques, swelling of the feet and hands, join and bone pain.
  The FDA has published warnings associated with Gadolinium in June 2006, December 2006, and April 2007, but the FDA has approved five Gadolinium-based contrast agents for use. The five approved agents are: OptiMARK, Magnevist, MultiHance, Prohance, and the most popular of all - Omniscan Contrast Dye. Omniscan Contrast Dye is used in five out of nine patients when they have a MRI for brain and spine problems.

• Accutane: Once a popular acne treatment, the drug can cause birth defects in pregnant women and depression and suicide in adolescents.
• Fen-phen: These diet drugs have damaged heart valves in some patients, resulting in heart and lung disease.
• Ephedra: This dietary supplement, now withdrawn from the market, has been shown to cause raised blood pressure and heart problems.
• Baycol: Some patients who took this cholesterol-lowering drug have suffered severe muscle reactions and kidney damage. If you took Baycol and have had adverse reactions as a result, call us for a free consultation.
• Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella or Beyaz: Yaz has been marketed as more than just a birth control pill, but also as an effective treatment for acne, and proven treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). PMDD is a condition with severe symptoms like nervousness, irritability, headaches, and abdominal pain. Although what was not clearly explained was the high risk of hyperkalemia. Drospirenone, one of the primary ingredients in Yaz, can cause an increase in potassium in the blood which leads to hyperkalemia. This condition causes heart rhythm disturbances, which cause blood clots leading to pulmonary embolism, cardiac death, or strokes. Problems with the gallbladder may also be a side effect from Yaz, these problems result in the removal of the gallbladder. If you took Yaz and as a result had a heart attack, DVT, gallbladder removal, pulmonary embolism, or stroke call us.

• Ortho Evra Birth Control: The Ortho Evra birth control patch may be dangerous to your health. If you have suffered cardio-related complications from using the Ortho Evra birth control patch, the Colorado personal injury lawyers at The Sawaya Law Firm may be able to help you.
  The FDA approved updated labeling for the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch to warn the public that the product exposes women to higher levels of estrogen than most birth control pills. Higher levels of estrogen may put some women at increased risk for getting blood clots and other heart-related complications.
  There have been a number of dangerous side effects that have been reported, such as fatal heart attacks and strokes.
  Contact us immediately if you have experienced any of the following issues after using the Ortho Evra patch:

  • Blood Clots
  • Pulmonary embolism
  • Heart attack
  • Stroke
• Darvocet and Darvon: Darvocet, also known as Darvon and distributed under a variety of brands, has been banned in England. The drug used to be the second most popular prescribed medication in England. The ban is based on government concerns about people dying from relatively low-level overdoses and its increasingly frequent use in suicides.
  Darvocet is a combination of propoxyphene and acetaminophen or aspirin depending on its use.
  Manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company promoted it as a safe, non-addicting substitute for codeine. Propoxyphene figured into 6,449 emergency room admissions in the US in 1996, and was cited by medical examiners as the twelfth-leading cause of drug fatalities for the previous year.
  Studies of the popular British form of the drug, Co-proxamol, show that patients can possibly overdose and die by exceeding their dosage by as little as two doses.
  Many deaths have been associated with this propoxyphene formulation, either in accidental or intentional overdoses. Another study, conducted more recently, indicates that the effect of the medication was a contributing factor, if not the causative factor, in 18 percent of all drug-related deaths and 5 percent of all suicides prior to its withdrawal in England.
  Several groups have called for the withdrawal of Darvon and Darvocet from the US market, citing similar concerns about the dangerous potential of the drug in terms of accidental overdose and its known popularity as a method of suicide.
  If you or a loved one accidentally overdosed or attempted suicide using Darvon or Darvocet, please contact the personal injury lawyers at The Sawaya Law Firm. Call or email us today.

If these or other prescription or over-the-counter drugs have caused harm or even death to anyone in your family, talk to one of our Colorado dangerous medication attorneys.

Call or e-mail us today. We will review your case and give you a detailed evaluation at no cost. For more information, see our Dangerous Medicines practice page.

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