Accutane is no ordinary drug, but rather a powerful one. That’s why, as an acne medication, it’s been available only by prescription and not over-the-counter. Its power comes from active ingredient Isotretinoin, which can stop severe acne but, due to its potency, is not intended for those without serious acne problems.
But U.S. Congressional studies indicate that millions of Americans with mild cases of acne received the potent drug anyway. Agressively marketed, advertised and sold from 1982 until 2009, Accutane wound up going to many persons who didn’t truly need it and should not have been exposed to its risks. Indeed, studies demonstrate that about half of teenagers and as many as 90 per cent of women who were prescribed the drug did not suffer the severe acne for which it was appropriate.
This huge amount of overprescribing for Accutane resulted in billions of dollars in profits for Swiss-based Roche Pharmaceuticals, or Hoffman-La Roche. That company was content to rake in such profits even though it knew that Accutane was capable of causing serious injuries, among them the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) called Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
These are catastrophic injuries, in part because they are incurable and last a lifetime. Though treatment can help, it cannot stop the diseases, which victims must endure throughout their lives. Thus, they pay a horrific price for the negligence and greed Roche demonstrated by peddling this dangerously defective drug to an innocent and unsuspecting public.
Victims’ lifelong conditions include intestinal bleeding, stomach pain, inflammation and cramping. Accutane sufferers such as actor James Marshall (Twin Peaks, A Few Good Men) often have unexpected and sudden bowel movements, which limit their ability to hold a job. In fact, their ailment may be so severe that they must have their colon or a portion of their intestines surgically removed. In short, due to Accutane, they’ll never be the same again.
Roche is clearly responsible for such extreme and expensive health problems caused by its defective acne drug. Yet the dangerous product’s creator profited by up to $1.2 billion annually while selling its flawed acne medication, and Roche persisted in selling Accutane for such profits even when it was known that the acne treatment led to devastating health problems.
Tacitly acknowledging its acne medication’s dangers, Roche finally took Accutane off the American market in 2009, though it persists in pushing the drug in other nations around the world. Roche’s retreat in the USA could have been prompted by Accutane lawsuits in which victims prevailed and Roche lost. In fact, just a few Accutane IBD victims have received a total of more than $56 million in jury awards.
Actually, Accutane remains sold in America in generic forms, branded as Claravis, Sotret and Amnesteem. Like Accutane, these harbor the potent and potentially devastating active ingredient Isotretinoin, the cause of so many IBD injuries. But victims can fight back, via the nationwide attorney service Accutane-Lawsuit-Lawyer.com, which can help Accutane IBD victims across the country. To find legal assistance for an Accutane lawsuit in your state, go to its website or call toll-free to 1-800-339-0606.