First Fosamax Thigh Fracture Lawsuit Filed in Hawaii
Jun 30, 2011 | Parker Waichman LLP
A Hawaiian woman claims a drug meant to make her bones strong instead caused her to suffer a debilitating break. Lois Takamori, 62, has filed the first Fosamax thigh fracture lawsuit in the state.
According to her lawsuit, Takamori began taking Fosamax in 2001 to prevent bone loss from osteoporosis. In 2009, while doing nothing more than taking a backwards step in the gym, she broke her thigh. Since then, she has undergone several surgeries to try to repair the damage, but even now walks with a cane.
Takamori is just one of dozens of women in the U.S. who have filed Fosamax fracture lawsuits. Takamori and other plaintiffs claim Merck & Co. failed to adequately warn about the risk of thigh fractures from Fosamax.
Last year, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) asked the manufacturers of bisphosphonates to add information to the “Warnings and Precautions” section of the drugs’ labels describing the risk of atypical thigh fractures after a study saw a fracture risk in women who took the osteoporosis drugs over a long period of time. In May, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study confirming this risk. Among other things, the study found that the women who took the drugs the longest faced the highest risk, while the fracture risk was reduced when patients stopped taking the drugs.
Last month, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated such lawsuit and transferred them to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey for pretrial proceedings. Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. will preside over those Fosamax fracture lawsuits, as well as any filed in federal court in the future.
