Osteoporosis lawsuits regarding Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva, Zometa and Aredia allege femur fractures, jaw bone death and more. Have you been injured? If so, an osteoporosis injury lawyer can review your situation and determine whether you might be entitled to compensation so that you can decide whether or not filing an osteoporosis lawsuit is in your best interests.
Litigation on osteoporosis femur fractures continues - especially after an ABC news program revealed the serious risks associated with these osteoporosis drugs known as subtrochateric femur fractures.
The femur bone is the strongest bone in the human body and typically doesn't fracture unless there's significant injury or trauma. Patients who use bisphosphonate drugs such as Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva, Zometa, and Aredia and have been on these drugs for prolonged periods of time - between three and five years - are suffering low energy femur fractures. In many cases, the injury is caused spontaneously when the patient has not experienced a significant injury or trauma.
Fosamax injury lawyers say that published information suggests that once these drugs were approved, the FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration) required manufacturers to conduct long term studies to determine the risks of suffering from a femur fracture. However, manufacturers never did these studies. Now, independent studies are confirming that there is indeed a significant risk from long term use and exposure to these drugs.
In addition to subtrochateric femur fractures, long-term exposure to bisphosphonate drugs also increases the probability of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ - also known as avascular necrosis, aseptic necrosis, ischemic necrosis or jaw bone death. ONJ is a bone disease which affects approximately 10,000 to 20,000 Americans each year. It commonly results from a temporary or permanent loss of blood flow to the bones which causes bone tissue to die and the collapse of the jaw.
As a result of bisphosphonate drug injuries, many doctors are recommending that patients take a drug holiday. Basically, they're saying that you shouldn't stay on these drugs for longer than five years in order to let your body become unexposed to these drugs for awhile and then re-assess whether or not going back on the drug at a later point is necessary.
Medical experts say that osteoporosis drugs have a very slow half life. So, the half life for a drug such as Fosamax is approximately ten years. What that means is that it stays in your body from between ten and twenty years before it metabolizes out of your system.
Patients who are on the drug for five years, then get off of it, are still at an increased risk of injury because of the slow metabolization of the drug in the body. Unfortunately, drug manufacturers don't seem to be recommending that their patients go on a drug holiday as they certainly have incentive not to. It's important for bisphosphonate patients to realize this and watch their bone density levels, which can be done through very simple tests at most doctors' offices. If a patient's bone density shows severe osteoporosis, then getting on - or continuing to use - the drug may be in their best interest until they can get their bone density to a safe level - and then get off the drug.
Many of these bisphosphonate drugs are not just prescribed for osteoporosis, but also for osteopenia - which is basically pre-osteoporosis. However, Fosamax injury attorneys believe that none of these drugs are especially effective and that more and more serious and dangerous osteoporosis side effects are being linked to them such as ONJ and femur fractures described above.
It seems ironic that these drugs are prescribed to prevent these types of injuries, yet they are increasing the risks of suffering from them. The truth of the matter seems to be that drug manufacturers have done a very good job at marketing these drugs to consumers, yet have failed to do adequate studies or warn consumers about the serious side effects and risks.
What's even more ironic is that, until these drugs were on the market, there wasn't even a condition known as osteopenia, or pre-osteoporosis. However, these bisphosphonate manufacturers were able to convince the FDA to allow them to prescribe the drug to individuals with "osteopenia." The end result has been a bevy of bisphosphonate injury lawsuits - especially over Merck's Fosamax.
There are many bisphosphonate drugs on the market, including:
However, Merck & Co. is defending the largest number of Fosamax lawsuits concerning ONJ and femur fractures, which have been fairly extensive on the federal level. Here's an update on each: