New York 2/23/2009 6:25:33 AM
Digitek Recall Lawsuits
Information Portal Consumer Injury Lawyers, one of the most comprehensive legal websites on the internet, continues to update its denture cream zinc poisoning information portal with new articles providing more detail and insight as to potential Digitek lawsuits.
More than 60 Digitek lawsuits have been filed against Actavis, the manufacturer of Digitek, in federal courts across the country. In April 2008, Actavis issued a Class I recall of all Digitek lots, because the pills contained a double dose of the heart failure drug. A Class I recall is the most serious type of recall, issued for drugs that are found to have the potential for causing serious or deadly reactions.
Many questions have arisen in this case, as Actavis’ manufacturing issues have gone beyond Digitek, and have been reported as early as 1999, well before the recall in 2008. Actavis, a pharmaceutical company founded in 1956, is based in Iceland, with many manufacturing laboratories around the world. According to their own website, they purport that they are “one of the world's leading players in the development, manufacture, and sale of first-class generic pharmaceuticals.”
Yet, the FDA has reported numerous violations regarding Acativs’ method of manufacturing drugs. Several plants in the US have failed inspections, and the FDA stated in a warning letter dated February 1, 2007, that there was no assurance that many of the company’s drugs “have the identity, strength, quality and purity that they purport to possess.” In addition, the media has reported that Actavis altered its own internal reports.
Despite these serious violations, the FDA did not pull Actavis’ manufacturing license. Digitek continued to be manufactured, putting the public at serious risks. Actavis maintains that the incorrectly manufactured tablets never reached the public; however, as the news of the Digitek recall was slow to reach both healthcare providers and consumers, a spike in reported deaths has been attributed to the drug. These reports have been confirmed by the FDA, who released statistics suggesting there are upwards of 667 Digitek related deaths.
Consequently, there have been numerous wrongful death suits filed against Actavis, with more pending. The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) has ordered that all federal lawsuits about the defective Digitek be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, and at this time, individual cases are still being reviewed.
www.ConsumerInjuryLawyers.com is a consumer advocacy website that provides information about Digitek lawsuits.
