Personal Injury Law

2011 Raptiva Lawsuit Filed In Texas Against Drug Company: Failure To Warn About Side Effect Risks

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

Back in 2009, we told you about some of the developments which led to Raptiva being withdrawn from the market in these two articles:

-- A Timeline For The Psoriasis Drug Raptiva, From Product Launch In U.S. To Market Withdrawal (April 2009)

-- FDA Warns About Rare Brain Infection PML Linked To Psoriasis Drug Raptiva (February 2009)

Now, a couple of years later, we have a products liability lawsuit that has been filed in Texas alleging that Raptiva was what caused a psoriasis patient to be diannosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in March 2009, just a month before the Raptiva recall in the U.S.

From a January 7, 2011 Bloomberg news report, "Roche Sued by Patient Claiming Cancer From Pulled Psoriasis Drug Raptiva", we get these details:

• Houston-area psoriasis patient Cary Massa, 51, was diagnosed with classic Hodgkin?s lymphoma in March 2009, after taking Raptiva from February 2006 to January 2008, according to a complaint filed today in Houston federal court.
• The case is Massa v. Genentech Inc. and Xoma (US) LLC, 4:11-cv-00070, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
• Genentech was acquired by Roche Holding in March 2009, the month before the company began pulling Raptiva from the market. The company estimated 2,000 U.S. patients were taking the drug at that time, generating U.S. sales of $108 million in 2008.

We expect that there will be more drug injury lawsuits filed against Roche and Genentech by patients who developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, a rare but fatal brain infection -- which was the primary reason Raptive was withdrawn from the market in April 2009 -- as well as other serious side effects such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and other cancers after using Raptiva.

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