Cardiac Injuries Sustained Causes Three Louisiana Residents to File Darvon Lawsuits

Since the United States Food and Drug Administration’s ban on all products containing propoxyphene in November 2010, there has been an exponential growth in Darvon Lawsuits being filed. Recently three Louisiana Residents have filed lawsuits against several of the drug manufacturers that produce and sell the drug, claiming that the painkiller caused them to sustain cardiac injuries.

Billy Lambert, Gladys Delaune, and Margaret Seagraves filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on March 4, 2010. The plaintiffs accuse several drug companies that have a history with Darvocet, including Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, AAIPharma Services, Eli Lilly and Company, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Qualitest Pharmaceuticals. Eli Lilly and Company originally developed Darvon (in 1957) and Darvocet (in 1972) before selling the drugs to AAIPharma in 2002. Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals is the current distributor of Darvocet and acquired the rights to Darvon and Darvocet in 2005 after AAI declared bankruptcy. Propoxyphene is also generically manufactured by a number of companies, including Teva and Qualitest.

These lawsuits claim that the drugs which contained propoxyphene and cause the plaintiffs to develop serious, life-threatening heart conditions, including wide complex tachycardia, a type of cardiac rhythm abnormality. Claims also include that the drug companies knew or had a reasonable amount of knowledge that propoxyphene can potentially cause the cardiac injuries the plaintiffs are claiming. And since with the results from the study done by Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals show that indeed propoxyphene can cause heart abnormalities even in patients with no prior heart problems and under the normal prescription dosage, the evidence against the pharmaceutical companies are overwhelming.

There is a schedule for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) later this month to see if all the Darvon and Darvocet Lawsuits should be placed under a single judge for pretrial proceedings. The MDL would allow all those who have been injured by Darvon or Darvocet to save a significant amount of time and money.

Many of the growing number of Darvon Lawsuits being filed by those who have been injured by the drug are claiming that the pharmaceutical companies failed to warn them of the side effects of propoxyphene. If the drug companies knew about the side effects or had sufficient knowledge of them, they should have warned the consumers of them, since they failed to do so the injured will see their day in court.