Patients affected by Injectafer, an iron deficiency medication, are one step closer to seeking justice. Pogust Millrood’s lawsuits against the pharmaceutical companies responsible for Injectafer and its link to Severe Hypophosphatemia (Severe HPP) and other injuries are moving forward after the judge rejected the defendants’ premature claims to dismiss the main theories in the cases.
On January 28, 2020, United States District Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered that Katherine Crockett and Jennifer Krueger’s chief claims against the manufacturers and designers of Injectafer for failure to warn, design defect, misrepresentation, and punitive damages are permitted to proceed.
Defendant pharmaceutical companies had attempted to dismiss the claims under the theory of “federal preemption.” Judge Beetlestone rejected the challenge finding that “Defendants do not argue or point to any ‘evidence’ that they proposed a stronger warning to the FDA [regarding Severe or Persistent HPP] or that FDA would have rejected a different warning label.” “Accordingly, Defendants have not shown that they ‘fully informed the FDA of the justifications for the warning required by state law and that the FDA, in turn, informed the drug manufacturer that the FDA would not approve changing the drug’s label to include that warning.’ ”
Pogust Millrood and the plaintiffs in this litigation have long claimed that Injectafer lacks adequate warnings, and that as a result, consumers and the medical community have been unaware of the actual, known risks of Injectafer before deciding whether to prescribe the drug for iron deficiency. There was no warning regarding the risk of developing Severe or Persistent Hypophosphatemia (HPP). Severe HPP is, in essence, a severe deficiency in phosphorus in the body, and can cause major complications including severe weakness and fatigue, bone pain or fractures, numbness, and confusion. If Severe HPP is left untreated for too long, potentially more serious complications can result such as respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, osteomalacia, rhabdomyolysis, seizures, coma, and death. As a result of severe phosphorus depletion, patients can be hospitalized multiple times over the course of months, and in many instances, forced to stay for days at a time.
Pogust Millrood submitted the first Injectafer lawsuit in the country in December 2018. Since, Pogust Millrood continues to lead the charge on behalf of injured Injectafer patients as they build the case against the companies responsible for the product. The firm intends to hold the companies accountable for the pain and suffering that their negligence has inflicted onto innocent patients’ lives.
The companies implicated in this lawsuit include Japanese giant Daiichi Sankyo and its subsidiary, Daiichi Sankyo US, Luitpold Pharma, American Regent, and European-based Vifor Pharma.
If you or someone you know has experienced Severe Hypophosphatemia (Severe HPP) symptoms after taking Injectafer, call Pogust Millrood toll free at 888-348-6787, or direct to the Pennsylvania office at 610-941-4204, to see if you are entitled to seek damages.
A Pennsylvania native, Mike Daly has spent most of his life in the greater Philadelphia area. A proud graduate of Penn State and the Villanova School of Law, he's currently a partner at Pogust Millrood, where he represents individuals throughout the country in class action and mass tort claims involving consumer fraud, environmental harm, defective medical devices, and harmful pharmaceuticals.
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