Elmiron Lawsuits

Elmiron Lawyer

With so many Americans taking medications for one reason or another, you would think that the process for making and distributing these medicines would be foolproof. Sadly, that’s not always the case. Sometimes drugs with dangerous side effects make it to market, leaving thousands of patients to suffer the consequences.

This was the case with pentosan polysulfate sodium, a drug known by the brand name Elmiron. The drug was released in 1996. Since then, evidence has emerged that long-term exposure to the drug may cause an array of eye diseases.

If you have taken Elmiron and developed certain eye-related illnesses, you may be entitled to compensation.

The team at Ward Black Law can evaluate your case and let you know what your legal options are, including if you may have a claim against the drug’s manufacturer. To learn more, call us today or visit our contact page.

What Is Elmiron?

Elmiron was manufactured by a company called Janssen Pharmaceuticals to treat a condition called interstitial cystitis, also known as painful bladder syndrome. Painful bladder syndrome causes an array of distressing symptoms, including having a sudden feeling of needing to urinate, a need to urinate often, and pain during sex.

Because of these symptoms, painful bladder syndrome is often linked to depression and a lower quality of life.

Elmiron has also been used to treat knee and bone pain. It works like an anticoagulant (a blood thinner for people with high blood pressure or similar conditions).

What You Need to Know About Elmiron Lawsuits

Despite being on the market since 1996, the public remained unaware of the most dangerous side effects of Elmiron until relatively recently.

In 2018, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (the field of medicine that deals with the study and treatment of eye disorders) published an article about treating patients who had been using Elmiron for their interstitial cystitis. The article reported that six patients had developed a rare eye disease called pigmentary maculopathy.

Pigmentary maculopathy is an eye disease that affects the central part of the retina. The disease can progress slowly and can eventually lead to blindness as you lose your central vision, with deterioration of your side vision only coming in the final stages of the illness.

Following the initial 2018 article, in 2019, the American Academy of Ophthalmology published another article saying the number of patients who had taken Elmiron and later developed pigmentary maculopathy had increased to 10. That same article also noted that scientists at Kaiser Permanente reported that 25 percent of patients who had used Elmiron had shown signs of eye damage.

In the fall of 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added eye disorders related to taking Elmiron to its list of Potential Signals of Serious Risk, working with data from the organization’s Adverse Event Reporting System. In response, the FDA is now weighing possible regulatory action.

In 2020, researchers at the Emory Eye Center reported even more cases of finding patients who had retinal injuries after long-term exposure to Elmiron. These new findings, together with the prior reports from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and others, are the basis of a series of class-action lawsuits against Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Another point of contention in the claims against Janssen is the clinical trials Janssen conducted prior to launching Elmiron. In one trial of nearly 2,500 patients, a number of those involved in the trial reported eye or vision-related issues after taking the drug. Janssen should have known this information, but it was never on any warning labels for Elmiron. This means that the public was unaware of these potentially dangerous side effects.

Side Effects of Elmiron

The most potentially damaging side effect of long-term exposure to Elmiron is pigmentary maculopathy. Maculopathy is any injury to the macula, which is the central part of the retina. Pigmentary maculopathy is when some type of tissue deposit or lesion on the macula begins to affect your central vision. If left untreated, these deposits or lesions can gradually broaden, getting worse until total blindness occurs.

Symptoms of pigmentary maculopathy include any or all of the following:

• Parafoveal pigmented deposits – This is when capillaries and small blood vessels around the macula become damaged or abnormal in some way, leading to vision loss.
• Vitelliform deposits – These are round, yellow lesions that form underneath the macula. You may also see this referred to as adult pattern macular dystrophy.
• Hyperpigmented spots on the retina – These are dark spots that shouldn’t be there on the retina.

That’s just the worst of the eye-related side effects of Elmiron. Other side effects may include:

There are also side effects when taking Elmiron that aren’t related to your eyes. These can include diarrhea, hair loss, nausea, headaches, stomach pain, dizziness, depression, and skin rashes.

Your Legal Right to Compensation

Trying to win a claim against a pharmaceutical company regarding a defective drug is a complex process. The hardest part is proving that it was the drug that led to your injuries. This is often why personal injury claims regarding potentially defective drugs involve many injured people and attorneys pooling their resources to file claims in the same court, similar to a class-action suit.

We’re committed to holding these companies to account. If your claim is successful, you are potentially eligible for compensation related to many different losses you may have sustained. Potential damages from a successful defective drug claim can include:

• Medical bills – Treating a serious eye disorder like pigmentary maculopathy can be very costly. If your claim is successful, you could be entitled to compensation for any doctor’s visits you had to make, other prescriptions you may have had to take, appointments with specialists, and so on. Make sure to save all your records so you can show your expenses.
• Hospital bills – Even a short stay in a hospital can result in tens of thousands of dollars in bills. If your hospital stay was related to taking Elmiron, you may be eligible for damages to cover the cost of your hospitalization.
• Lost wages and lost future income – As Elmiron is a drug that can significantly damage your eyesight, you may end up missing work to treat the illness. In some cases, you may lose your sight entirely, which likely means you’re no longer able to do your job at all. If this is the case, you can be compensated for past wages you missed, as well as future income that you are deprived of because of your injuries.
• Funeral and burial expenses – In the event that someone in your family dies from complications due to Elmiron, you may be compensated for their funeral and burial expenses.
• Loss of support or companionship – If your spouse or someone else in your family is your primary means of financial support, that person losing their eyesight due to taking Elmiron could do massive harm to your financial future, entitling you to compensation. Similarly, if you lose a family member due to complications related to Elmiron, you may seek wrongful death damages.
• Pain and suffering – It may seem difficult to try to put a monetary value on the pain and suffering you went through after suffering side effects from Elmiron, but it’s a way to account for what you’ve lost. Damages for pain and suffering can help you live more comfortably after your injuries, and it’s a way to hold the liable parties responsible for their actions.

If you want to know more about the damages for which you may be eligible, call our office. Each personal injury claim is unique, and our experienced attorneys and staff can tell you more about what compensation you could potentially receive if you wish to file a claim.

How Our Elmiron Law Firm Can Help You

First and foremost, taking legal action is a way to personally hold Elmiron’s manufacturers accountable for what they’ve done. While regulatory action may come later, for now, your best chance at seeing justice done to Janssen Pharmaceuticals is through a personal injury claim.

Here’s how we can help if you come to us to handle your claim:

• Meeting court deadlines, filing paperwork, handling communication – There’s a lot of paperwork that goes into a personal injury claim, especially in defective drug cases. There are important deadlines that have to be met, and you can expect to hear from one of the many lawyers working for the drug’s manufacturer. Missing any of these deadlines can doom your case. Smart communication is key when dealing with attorneys from the opposition. Having a lawyer to handle these small details will save you a tremendous amount of time and hassle.
• Research and expert testimony – One of the most difficult parts of any defective drug suit is proving the link between your injuries and the drug. We have expert research teams at our disposal, and we have expert witnesses we can call on to review your case. These are resources most individuals simply don’t have.
• Letting you go about your daily life – You have a million other things going on in your life aside from this personal injury claim. While we handle the legal legwork, you can focus on healing and doing your everyday activities.
• Negotiating a settlement – While we will prepare your case as if it’s headed to trial, most personal injury claims are negotiated out-of-court. You could try to negotiate your deal yourself, but an attorney can calculate the complete extent of your losses related to taking Elmiron and pursue compensation for them.

What to Do If You Have Suffered Serious Side Effects from Elmiron

If you think your eyes have been damaged from taking Elmiron, talk to your doctor about switching medications right away. Evidence suggests that vision damage can continue even after you stop taking the drug. Your second step should be to see an ophthalmologist. They’ll be able to tell you what’s happened to your eyes, and their records will be essential to any claim you later file.

You’ll want to note all the changes to your vision and when they occurred to the best of your ability. You’ll also want to make sure you don’t have any family history of eye disease, to rule that out.

Your next step should be to speak with our experienced staff. The sooner you talk to us, the sooner you’ll know what your options are, and the earlier you can begin the process of filing your claim.

Time Is Limited for Filing an Elmiron Lawsuit

In North Carolina, you generally have three years from your date of injury to file a personal injury claim. This usually includes claims related to defective drugs. Three years may sound like a long time, but it is important to get started as soon as possible. To make sure you have a chance to recover some compensation, speak with an attorney right away.

If your loved one has died in North Carolina as a result of Elmiron or other product, you generally have two years to file a claim.