The federal judge presiding over Avandia litigation denied defendant drug maker GlaxoSmithKline’s motion to dismiss 60 Avandia lawsuits that GSK argued were filed too late. Glaxo tried to convince the judge that the claims were filed after applicable statutes of limitation had run and, therefore, that applicable time limits expired. The lawsuits claim that the once-popular diabetes drug caused unsuspecting patients to suffer heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and sudden cardiac death.
GlaxoSmithKline argued that the time limits set out in the statutes of limitation began to run in May 2007, when a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine linking Avania use to an increased risk of heart problems. The Court rejected GSK’s argument and ruled that under Pennsylvania’s “discovery rule” the statute of limitations doesn’t begin to run until the injured party knew or should have known that their injury was caused by Avandia side effects.
Attorneys for the people who filed the lawsuits claimed that they neither knew nor should have known until late in the summer of 2010 that the injuries from which they suffer were caused by the diabetes drug. They claimed that they were not aware of Avandia heart risk information before then.
In her Order dated September 7, 2011, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe ruled that, “There is certainly a point at which a reasonable person was on notice to investigate the possibility of a connection between an injury and use of Avandia, but the Court cannot, on the present record, determine that point to be May 21, 2007.”
Almost a year ago, on September 23, 2010, the FDA severely restricted Avandia use in the U.S.. The drug now is available to new patients, “only if they are unable to achieve glucose control on other medications and are unable to take Actos (pioglitazone), the only other drug in this class.” The same day, an Avandia recall in europe was announced by the European Medical Agency (EMA). The EMA Avandia recall was ordered after it concluded that more severe restrictions would not adequately protect patients from the drug’s increased heart risks.
The FDA Avandia restrictions were ordered in response to overwhelming data linking the Type 2 diabetes medication (generic name “rosiglitazone”) to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, including stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure (CHF), and sudden cardiac death.
The attorneys at AvandiaRecallNews.com no longer are accepting new Avandia cases.