Lawsuit Settlements For Statin Drug Deaths
Baycol, a statin drug also known as cerivastatin, was pulled off the market in 2001 due to causing more than 100 deaths, mainly from complications of severe muscle breakdown known as rhabdomyolysis. So far, Bayer, the pharmaceutical company responsible for producing Baycol, has paid out $750 million in settlements with 10,378 more cases to settle, and was fined for withholding information from Germany's federal drug agencies on Baycol's potentially fatal effects when interacting with certain other drugs.
Lawsuits have also been filed against Pfizer Pharmaceutical to recover damages by patients who were prescribed Lipitor. Visit Lipitor Lawsuit for more info. This statin drug has been linked to a series of serious side effects including liver damage and kidney failure.
Lipitor, Zocor and Mevacor have been linked to rhabdomyolysis. The FDA has ordered "black box warning labels" to be place on packaging, but has not recalled the drugs as yet. Pravachol has been linked to dozens of deaths from rhabdomyolysis.
Rhabdomyolysis develops when massive amounts of muscle protein and toxic cell components from dying muscle fibers are released into the blood stream to be filtered out by the kidneys. These muscle by-products saturate the kidneys and overwhelm the filtration process blocking and damaging the structures and tubules of the kidneys. This acute tubular necrosis leads to kidney failure. It is reported to affect 6 in every 10,000 individuals taking a statin drug.
Initial symptoms of rhabdomyolysis are muscle tenderness and weakness in the legs (especially the calves), fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and dark urine. The type of muscle discomfort can range from muscle tenderness to cramping to actual pain. These symptoms can occur even at rest and will increase with exercise. Symptoms can continue for months after discontinuing the statin drug. Monitoring blood levels may not pick up ensuing rhabdomyolysis.
Although the pharmaceutical companies insist that only 2-3 % of the patient taking statin drugs have side effects, a series of studies being conducted in Southern California by Dr. Golomb show that 98% of the patients on Lipitor and 33% of the patients on Mevacor suffer from muscle symptoms. http://www.acostawilliams.com/lipitor-lawsuit/