Pharmaceutical agents – prescription drugs – are a big business. They sell almost a quarter-trillion dollars in the United States alone.

Some drugs may do good things for seriously ill people. Perhaps, however, we as consumers have been misled about the quality and effectiveness of prescription drugs, and as we know now, far too often not informed about many of these drugs’ devastating side effects. Prescription drugs can often be worse the illness or disease they purport to treat.

Prescription Drug Failure to Warn

Off-Label Promotion and Off-Label marketing

Consider, your doctor may not know as much about the prescription drug she/she is prescribing, as you think. Most prescription drug information is produced by pharmaceutical companies, which information is provided to the FDA. It has been argued that the FDA simply does not have the resources to check or cross-check the drug companies’ drug information.

So, where do doctors’ obtain their information about prescription medicine? Quite often, doctors receive their prescribing and dosage information from pharmaceutical sales representatives. And who are these drug company sales reps? Salespeople. They are trained by drug companies to do what sales persons do:  maximize sales.

Drug Companies Co-opt Doctors

Drug injury often occurs as severe side effect, or as a drug interaction injury. Your physician may not be fully aware of the prescription drug side effects or drug interaction because your doctor's information is based upon what the drug company sales representative told him or her.

The next time you are in the doctors’ office, whether it is your pediatrician, family/general practitioner, surgeon, psychiatrist, or internal medicine physician (e.g. cardiologist, neurologist, etc.), simply look around at the items that tend to cover the doctors’ desks, countertops, and walls (e.g. posters). Undoubtedly, you will find pens, pencils, pads, post-it-style notes, rulers, posters -- all emblazoned with brand name prescription drugs as well as the drug companies which make and market those prescription drugs. These promotional materials are provided to the doctors’ offices for free – they are promotional or advertising giveaways -- for doctors who prescribe certain drugs the drug company sales reps are trying to move.

Doctors – often because of their busy schedules and trying to maximize the number of patients they see for short periods each day – may rely on the representations made to them by the pharmaceutical sales agents -- whom doctors often believe are highly educated and knowledgeable pharmaceutical representatives -- instead of looking to unbiased, or more balanced, sources of information.

Phony Research, Material Omissions, and Drug Defects

Similarly, drug companies conduct research on their drugs and pay doctors, hospitals, universities, and academic medical centers to write articles and papers for medical texts, treatises, journals, and magazines.  Such articles are called "ghost-written" articles They provide paid trips to top-precribing doctors. They sponsor or host continuing medical education conferences.

Conflict of interest? Well, at least today more consumer groups have focused on these doctor-drug company cozy relationships.

Drug Companies Marketing Directly to Consumers

Additionally, consider all the drug advertising you see: television, radio, newspapers, magazines.  These advertisements for prescription drugs are designed to induce you to ask your doctor to prescribe that particular drug.

This is called direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. Some ads have tiny, miniscule fine print that may list some of the horrendous side effects.  These injury- and death-causing side effects are all too often ignored because no one, including the doctors prescribing them, know about them.

Avoiding Truth By Not Testing for Reactions in Those Who Actually Use the Drug

Some drug side effects and adverse reactions are not studied because drug companies simply do not conduct the research. They may avoid studying adult prescription drugs’ effects on children, yet have their salespeople promote pediatric use of these drugs. The drug companies may not study effects in persons aged 55 or older – although this is often the population that often uses the prescription drugs.
 
Drug company salespeople have been know to promote a drug’s use for ailments or maladies for which the prescription drug was not tested, or for uses never approved by the FDA. This is called “off-label” use of a drug, i.e. the drug is not used to treat those conditions not on its label (meaning the FDA approved that particular use).

Defective Drug Liability

1. Is the prescription medicine you are taking what is best for you, from health and medicine standpoint, or is it the latest drug that is being promoted by a drug company to boost its sales and bottom line?
2. Is your doctor properly prescribing a prescription drug? If not, he/she may be misprescribing the drug. If you are seriously injured, then the doctor as well as the drug company may be held responsible.
3. Is your doctor prescribing you too much of a prescription drug? If not, he/she may be over prescribing the drug. If you are seriously injured, then the doctor as well as the drug company may be held responsible.

An informed consumer makes the best patient. Ask questions. Research prescription drugs and potential side effects for yourself and make and educated decision, in direct consultation with your physician, about what your options are, your alternatives, the benefits, and the risks. Of course, providing your doctor with as much information as possible about your own health history, family health history, and social history (i.e. alcohol use, drug use, tobacco use, etc.) is very important.

A drug injury can have catastrophic consequences for the consumer. Proving a company's liability for injury, however, can often be complex because it often involves both State and Federal laws and regulations.

If you or your loved one’s severe personal injury or death was caused by a dangerous prescription drug, defective drug, defective medicine, prescription drug side effect, prescription drug adverse reaction, or dangerous drug, then contact a personal injury lawyer in our office to confidentially assess your drug injury claim.