Oxbryta

Sickle cell disease is an inherited medical condition in which red blood cells become sticky and hard. In addition to pain, those who suffer from the disease may have complications. Pfizer manufactures a medication called Oxbryta, which is intended to stop patients’ red blood cells from deforming such that they impede the flow of blood through the patients’ bodies. Unfortunately, Oxbryta may carry serious risks. After receiving reports of severe complications, Pfizer recalled Oxbryta across the world due to its discovery that the medication can result in health and safety problems like vaso-occlusive crises. Vaso-occlusive crises or VOCs are potentially life-endangering, very painful medical conditions that are linked to sickle cell. If you were injured or a loved one died due to the use of Oxbryta, you may be able to recover damages. Call the seasoned Chicago-based product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group to determine your legal options. Billions have been recovered in product liability lawsuits with which we’ve been involved.

The FDA approved Oxbryta in 2019. This was a fast-track approval for use in adults and children. Now that the drug is on the market, however, studies show that patients on the drug suffer a higher rate of negative impacts than they do on a placebo.

Pfizer’s recall was the result of many reports that patients using Oxbryta suffered serious and sometimes fatal complications. The risks of using the drug include stroke, organ damage, kidney failure, as well as death. Pfizer has been sued in multiple product liability and personal injury lawsuits on various grounds, including a failure to provide adequate warnings.

Our lawyers may be able to pursue compensation in a product liability lawsuit on behalf of you or a loved one in the event that you were harmed by Oxbryta. Product liability lawsuits can be brought in connection with three different types of defects: marketing, design, or manufacturing. Generally, speaking, manufacturing defects are one-off flaws; they involve mistakes in the manufacturing process or with following specifications and formulas. Design defects occur in every unit of the drug or product. Marketing defects are flaws in how information is provided, and to the extent that the defect consists of a manufacturer’s failure to warn on a label attached to Oxbryta, these types of defects exist in every unit.

A product or, in this case, a pharmaceutical, may be excessively dangerous, and for that reason, manufacturers are supposed to provide warnings to consumers that adequately describe the risk.

One of the most common marketing defects is failure to warn, which really means that the manufacturer didn’t offer.

In some jurisdictions, the learned intermediary doctrine applies to failure to warn claims. This doctrine provides that manufacturers need only give adequate warnings about a drug to physicians. The doctor then has responsibility to describe the risk to the patient so that he or she can give informed consent. When this doctrine is followed, but a doctor fails to provide the information to the patient properly such that he or she is harmed, it may be appropriate for the patient to sue the doctor for medical malpractice. Sometimes our attorneys will pursue damages from multiple parties, and the rules for how fault for defects cause injury will be apportioned.

If our lawyers are able to establish Pfizer’s liability (or another party’s) for injuries caused by Oxbryta, we may be able to recover compensation, whether in the form of a damages award or a settlement. Both economic and noneconomic damages that are recoverable include medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, replacement services and more. In the event that your loved one died due to treatment with Oxbryta, we may be able to pursue wrongful death damages; these losses are handled differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Patients assume that the drugs they are prescribed are safe to take, or at least that the benefits outweigh the side effects or harms. Those harmed or a loved one died because of using the medication Oxbryta should talk to the knowledgeable attorneys about your legal options. Please complete our online form or call us at 312.462.1700.