Generic, Brand Name Reglan the Focus of Recent Lawsuits

By September 10, 2012July 16th, 2019Uncategorized

The most recent group of Reglan lawsuit plaintiffs have filed against both the brand name and generic manufacturers of the controversial acid reflux drug. In this complaint, which was filed in California, the plaintiffs are claiming that both versions of the drug caused them to suffer from a common side effect, tardive dyskinesia (TD).

TD is a neurological condition that is characterized by patients suffering from involuntary movements of the extremities, grimacing, lip smacking, excessive blinking and twitching and even tongue protrusion. The condition can be quite debilitating and there is currently no cure; however, some patients will see their TD symptoms subside after discontinuing their use of Reglan.

These newest lawsuits were filed in the Superior Court in San Francisco County on July 31, 2012, and included plaintiffs James Thomas, Janice Stockman, Thomas Hitchens, Rebecca Kenaston and Eric Fallon. All of these plaintiffs have developed TD after taking Reglan or generic versions of the drug. All plaintiffs also accuse the makers of these pills (Teva, PLIVA) of not properly warning the public of the dangers linked to the pills. The plaintiffs state that they never would have taken the pills if they knew beforehand that they were potentially dangerous. In fact, the plaintiffs are claiming that the manufacturers knew how dangerous the pills had the potential to be but that they actually went to great lengths to conceal that fact.

In this complaint, the plaintiffs are also alleging that Teva and PLIVA didn’t properly change their labels to reflect the newer warnings that the FDA enforced in 2004 and 2009. This complaint carries some weight since the label issues were actually brought to PLIVA’s attention in March of 2011, and at that time the company admitted that they didn’t know if the changes were made or not. The FDA ordered Reglan warning label changes after the drug was found to cause TD and other side effects when the drug was used for periods lasting longer than 12 weeks. At that point many patients had been using the drug for months and even years.