Parker Waichman LLP

Tasigna Lawsuit Lawyers

Get the Compensation You Deserve From a Tasigna Lawsuit Settlement Tasigna lawsuits are currently being filed against the makers of this cancer drug because Tasigna has been linked to a dangerous condition called atherosclerosis. Because of the wrongful conduct of its manufacturer, cancer patients are now faced with another serious medical condition caused by the […]

Get the Compensation You Deserve From a Tasigna Lawsuit Settlement

Tasigna-Pills

Tasigna lawsuits are currently being filed against the makers of this cancer drug because Tasigna has been linked to a dangerous condition called atherosclerosis. Because of the wrongful conduct of its manufacturer, cancer patients are now faced with another serious medical condition caused by the very drug that was supposed to treat them. Parker Waichman LLP’s experienced cancer drug and atherosclerosis injury attorneys are helping victims of Tasigna injuries receive full compensation for the manufacturer’s failure to warn about the risks associated with taking this drug. Call us for a free consultation today and we can get started fighting for your legal rights.

Parker Waichman LLP Wins Pivotal MDL Argument Against Drug Giant Novartis in Tasigna Litigation

On August 10, 2021, Parker Waichman LLP attorneys defeated global drug giant Novartis in the firm’s bid to consolidate plaintiffs’ Tasigna injury lawsuits. Trial Attorney Chris Oxx, a lawyer for the national firm Parker Waichman LLP, represents clients who were prescribed Tasigna® (Nilotinib) and sustained severe harm, such as arterial damage, peripheral vascular disease, arteriosclerosis, strokes, cardiovascular disease, and/or the surgical amputation of limbs. Mr. Oxx argued that by consolidating the Tasigna cases, the MDL court would be able to coordinate with the New Jersey court. As a result, this consolidation would allow for the uniform and efficient resolution of disputes across all Tasigna cases.

Global giant Novartis argued against consolidating Tasigna litigation because there weren’t enough lawsuits filed at the time.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation sided with Parker Waichman attorney and issued a court order that centralized the Tasigna lawsuits in the Middle District of Florida. The decision dealt a blow to Novartis’ defense and rejection of case centralization.

According to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, “The prospect for informally coordinating so many actions with differing schedules before so many different judges seems labor-intensive and inefficient.” Furthermore, the MDL Panel said that the cases would remain in a Florida federal court since the state has more pending cases than in any other district. The MDL Panel also stated that the Middle District of Florida is a readily accessible and convenient district that is underused.

What Is Tasigna?

Tasigna is a prescription medication belonging to a class of drugs calls kinase inhibitors. It’s a chemotherapy drug manufactured by Novartis Pharma Stein AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Tasigna is a tablet that is taken orally with a timed food regimen, usually in 400 mg or 200 mg doses.

What Is Tasigna Used For?

Tasigna is prescribed to treat of a specific kind of cancer in adults: chronic-phase and accelerated-phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML). This is a cancer in which an abnormal chromosome, called the Philadelphia chromosome, produces too many white blood cells that slowly crowd out healthy white blood cells and prevent the cells from functioning normally. It is a cancer that affects both the blood and bone marrow. Tasigna is designed to treat Ph+ CML by inhibiting the specific protein produced by the Philadelphia chromosome that is responsible for overproduction of white blood cells.

What Are the Side effects of Tasigna?

Common Tasigna side effects include:

  • Skin rash
  • Itching
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Fatigue
  • Joint pain
  • Muscle aches
  • Back pain
  • Diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Temporary hair loss
  • Cold symptoms such as a stuffy nose, sneezing, a sore throat or a cough

However, clinical studies have shown that taking Tasigna can also lead to a complication called atherosclerosis, or thickening and blocking of the arteries.

Your arteries are like the pipes in your body, helping blood and oxygen travel to cells and organs. When plaque (deposits of fatty matter, cellular waste, and clotting material) builds up in your arteries, your cells and organs cannot get the amount of blood flow and oxygen they need. Arterial blockage can then lead to a number of extremely serious complications, depending on the location of the blockage, including:

  • Coronary artery disease (affecting the heart)
  • Carotid artery disease (affecting the neck and brain)
  • Angina (affecting the chest and heart)
  • Peripheral artery disease (affecting the extremities, especially the legs)
  • Chronic kidney disease (affecting the kidneys)

In turn, these complications from blocked arteries and decreased blood flow can cause the following severe events:

  • Heart attack
  • Stroke
  • Infection
  • Tissue decay and necrosis
  • Gangrene
  • Amputations
  • Kidney failure
  • Death

The prospect of any person having to deal with these conditions is tragic, but when they occur due to taking a drug that was supposed to help people with advanced cancer, it’s utterly devastating. Parker Waichman is taking Tasigna cases because we want to hold Novartis responsible for these traumatic injuries, particularly in light of its outrageous profit-motivated conduct.

Novartis Motivated by Greed

The rise of Tasigna came upon the fall of Novartis’s other popular CML cancer treatment drug, called Gleevec. Gleevec, also a kinase inhibitor, was a huge moneymaker for Novartis, generating about $5 billion in revenue for the corporation in 2015.

But toward the end of 2015, its patent on the drug was set to expire, meaning it would no longer control the exclusive right to sell the drug starting in 2016. Generic sales of the drug’s active ingredient (imatinib) were expected to cause a major financial hit to the tune of millions or even billions of dollars.

Without the ability to stop generic sales, Novartis did the next-best thing: it promoted its own competitor to Gleevec. Leading up to the expiration of its Gleevec patent, Novartis started marketing Tasigna as a superior treatment to Gleevec, even putting on the Tasigna label that it was indicated for patients who seemed resistant to or nonresponsive to imatinib treatments.

Novartis went as far as paying specialty pharmacies to recommend Tasigna to Medicare and Medicaid patients who were trying to fill prescriptions for other drugs (potentially including generic imatinib) and to downplay the Tasigna side effects to patients considering switching drugs.

Novartis agreed to pay $390 million in 2015 to settle charges from the U.S. Department of Justice that it was engaging in an illegal kickback scheme with specialty pharmacies concerning six drugs, one of which was Tasigna.

The whole time that it was promoting Tasigna over Gleevec and paying pharmacies to peddle its drug to innocent cancer patients, it knew the drug was dangerous. This inexcusable display of greed is why Parker Waichman’s attorneys are filing lawsuits against Novartis. Novartis knew of the risk of atherosclerosis and related complications and did nothing to warn U.S. doctors or consumers.

Warning on U.S. Tasigna Label Comes Slowly

No Atherosclerosis Warning on U.S. Tasigna Label

 

Drug manufacturers have a legal obligation to make sure their medications are safe, and they have an ongoing duty to provide doctors and patients adequate warnings about the risks associated with their drugs. Regarding atherosclerosis, Novartis took some action in Canada but has yet to provide any warnings in the United States.

On April 9, 2013, Health Canada (the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) released a statement to health-care providers alerting them to the potential for Tasigna to cause atherosclerosis-related diseases. The statement indicated that a recent study correlated Tasigna use with atherosclerosis-related diseases, finding arterial blockage and related injuries in up to 6 percent of patients studied. At the same time that it released this statement, Health Canada announced changes would be made to the Tasigna drug label to reflect these findings and the potential risk of atherosclerosis with Tasigna use.

To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made no statements with regard to Tasigna and atherosclerosis, nor has Novartis taken any steps to change its U.S. Tasigna drug label.

Because of the widespread failures of Novartis and the U.S. pharmaceutical system, already vulnerable patients looking for a cancer cure are at risk of serious health conditions and death. Parker Waichman’s experienced attorneys can aggressively seek compensation on behalf of people injured by Tasigna and families who have lost loved ones to Tasigna injuries. Contact our offices to learn more about the Tasigna case-filing process and your options for legal recourse.

Statutes of Limitations on Tasigna Claims

A statute of limitations is a time limit on filing a lawsuit imposed by state law. If you do not file a claim for injuries within the state’s set amount of time, your claim will expire, and you will never be able to file it. States create statutes of limitations to encourage plaintiffs to investigate their claims and act quickly to file any viable lawsuits while the evidence is still reliable. For instance, witnesses you might call to testify will have stronger memories of the events in question if you go to trial within three years rather than within ten years. If you file a claim sooner, it’s also more likely that your medical records and pertinent business documents for your case will be available and retrievable. After a span of years, medical facilities and businesses may destroy records to clear storage space. States further have an interest in making sure potential defendants do not have to prepare indefinitely for litigation.

Example Statutes of Limitations

Some general statutes of limitations on product liability actions are:

  • New York: Three years
  • New Jersey: Two years
  • Florida: Four years

These are conservative interpretations to some degree, as states often have “discovery rules” built into their statutes of limitations. Discovery rules have the effect of pausing the clock, allowing you time to discover the full extent of your injuries and sometimes even why you were injured and by whom you were injured. Generally, New York does not recognize a discovery rule on product liability cases, but New Jersey and Florida do.

In cases like those involving Tasigna claims, where the product in question is a drug you likely received in multiple doses, it can be very difficult to determine when the clock on your time window to file actually started running. The best way to find out the correct statute of limitations on your case is to work with an experienced Tasigna lawyer. Parker Waichman’s attorneys diligently calculate statutes of limitations on all of our Tasigna cases to be sure we will be able to complete your case investigation in time to file a lawsuit against Novartis.

Tasigna Claims Process

You know you have been injured by Tasigna, but you likely do not know where to begin in hiring legal representation. We know you have a lot to worry about already, so we keep our case intake process as easy as possible.

It starts with one phone call to our offices, during which you will be able to speak with a compassionate member of our legal staff. We’ll set up a free consultation with one of Parker Waichman’s skilled Tasigna lawyers. They will explain the process to you, including the services we will be able to provide. Then, our legal team will do all of the following on your behalf:

  • Gather detailed information about your cancer history, treatment, and prescription use of Tasigna
  • Order pharmacy records that show you used brand-name Tasigna and for how long you used it (a process we call establishing “proof of use” or “product identification”)
  • Obtain medical records that document your cancer diagnosis, prescribing information, diagnosis of atherosclerosis or related condition, and subsequent treatment
  • Contact medical experts and prescription drug industry experts to gain the best supportive opinions for your case
  • Calculate the statute of limitations on filing your claim
  • Determine the proper venue for filing your claim
  • Draft a complaint and file the complaint in the appropriate court

These steps describe just the work we will do leading up to case filing. Some of the hardest work will begin after that, including sorting through the slew of documents produced by the defendant. When you are going up against a giant pharmaceutical corporation like Novartis, you absolutely need lawyers who know what they’re doing.

This will no doubt be a difficult battle, but Parker Waichman will not give up. We know how your injuries have affected your life, and we are determined to help you secure the compensation you deserve.

New Tasigna Injury Lawsuits Are Expected

Many Tasigna lawsuits allege that Novartis, neglected to sufficiently warn doctors and patients about the possible side effects and severe health risks that are associated with its blood cancer medication, Tasigna. Studies have shown that Tasigna can cause the narrowing and hardening of arteries in some patients receiving the drug.. One March 2020 Tasigna lawsuit claims one Tasigna user who took the medication for three years suffered peripheral vascular disease as a result. That patient ultimately had a limb medically amputated due to the damage caused by Tasigna.

Frequently Asked Questions

Many people who call us with potential Tasigna cases have questions about the drug and the lawsuits we are currently filing. Below you will find a few of the questions we hear most often along with our answers.

Is Tasigna a Form of Chemotherapy?

Yes: Tasigna is a prescription medication belonging to a class of drugs calls kinase inhibitors that’s used as a targeted form of chemotherapy against Ph+ CML, a form of leukemia.

Who Manufactures Tasigna?

Tasigna is manufactured by Novartis Pharma Stein AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Novartis is a Swiss corporation that manufactures numerous prescription drugs, including a major Tasigna competitor called Gleevec.

Does Tasigna Cause Neuropathy?

Although it is not listed as a side effect on the box, those taking Tasigna should be aware that the oral chemotherapy drug increases the risk of developing peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is a condition that involves damage to parts of the nervous system.

Why Are People Filing Tasigna Lawsuits?

Parker Waichman LLP is pursuing justice for people who took Tasigna and developed a condition called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the medical term for thickening of arterial walls or blockage of the arteries that can cause serious complications like heart attack, stroke, infection, gangrene, limb amputations, and death. Novartis failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks of atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-related complications, even though it knew for numerous years about the connection between these conditions and Tasigna.

Has There Been a Tasigna Recall?

Despite the known potential for Tasigna to cause atherosclerosis and related diseases, the drug remains on the market. The FDA has not mandated a recall and has also made no statement regarding the connection between Tasigna and atherosclerosis. Tasigna’s drug label does, however, include information about other serious medical risks, including a “black box” warning (the highest possible drug warning) regarding the risk of sudden cardiac death while taking Tasigna.

If you believe you have been injured by Tasigna, don’t wait for the drug industry to make things right; demand justice by filing a claim for damages. Parker Waichman can help you hold Novartis accountable for your injuries.

I’m Not Sure Whether I Took Tasigna. Can You Help Me?

We understand that during a stressful and complex cancer treatment regimen, you might try multiple drugs and methods. It can be difficult to keep track of the brand names or generic names of every drug you’re using, and we certainly don’t expect you to. If you took an oral tablet for treatment of Ph+ CML and developed an arterial blockage or arterial disease and related complications, contact our firm as soon as possible. We will order your treatment records and pharmacy records, which will tell us for sure whether you used brand-name Tasigna. Our compassionate lawyers will then discuss your potential options for filing a lawsuit against Novartis.

How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help Me?

How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help Me

The attorneys at Parker Waichman will aggressively seek compensation for every way you have been harmed by Tasigna. A lawsuit settlement should include not only compensation for the economic harms you have suffered but also compensation for the pain and suffering you and your family have experienced. When you work with our firm to file a lawsuit against Novartis, we will seek all of the following types of damages on your behalf:

  • Medical costs for the treatment you have received for atherosclerosis or related conditions
  • Compensation for any medical treatment you will likely need in the future
  • Lost wages if you had to take time away from work because of your Tasigna injuries or will need to take time away in the future (including being permanently unable to go to work)
  • Damages for the physical and mental pain and suffering you have experienced and will continue to experience in the future
  • Damages for lost support and companionship if you are filing a lawsuit on behalf of a deceased loved one who took Tasigna
  • Punitive damages, which have the effect of punishing the drug manufacturer, if the facts of the case warrant an award of these kinds of damages (usually reserved for egregious behavior on the part of the defendant)

It’s clear that Novartis is motivated by money, so we intend to make the biggest impact possible on the corporation by seeking the highest possible amount of damages for our clients.

We know a money award in any amount will never truly make up for what has happened to you, and we would never suggest that it could. But we also understand that your injuries or the injuries of a loved one have placed a financial burden on you and your family, and you need relief from that strain. You deserve to receive compensation from the parties who profited from your pain. Parker Waichman can help you seek justice through a Tasigna lawsuit settlement. Contact our firm today to discuss your options.

Speak With One of Our Tasigna
Personal Injury Attorneys Today for Free

You and your family have been through enough, and we understand how traumatic your cancer treatment and Tasigna injuries have been. We never want you to delay seeking deserved justice because you don’t think you can afford it, which is why when you work with Parker Waichman, you will benefit from our decades litigating against major pharmaceutical corporations like Novartis while leaving the financial risk to us.

You can get started with a free case evaluation from one of our skilled lawyers: If you’ve been harmed by Tasigna, an attorney with our firm will listen to your story and investigate your case to see if you have grounds for a lawsuit. You’ll be under no obligation, so there’s no risk in giving us a call.

Whether or not we are able to move forward with your case, you never have to worry about receiving a bill from us because we contract our cases on a contingency-fee basis. That means that if you do not receive compensation, neither do we.

At Parker Waichman, we have a long history of achieving tremendous results for our clients. We are proud to say we have secured more than $2 billion in settlement awards and court verdicts for victims and their families, and we have earned a reputation for superior client advocacy. We’ve even earned honors including a 9.8 out of 10 rating from AVVO and “5 Dragons,” the highest ranking, from Lawdragon. We’re dedicated to helping people and will advocate for fair compensation for your injuries through a Tasigna class-action lawsuit or individual action. If you or a loved one used Tasigna for cancer treatment and subsequently developed atherosclerosis, contact our firm today for your free consultation by filling out our online form or calling 1-800-YOUR-LAWYER (1-800-968-7529).

 

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