When you’re prescribed a new medication or purchase an over-the-counter drug from the store, you expect it to alleviate your symptoms, reduce your pain, or even help cure your illness. You probably don’t expect it to make you feel worse or even cause you to develop new health problems, but that’s a reality for many Americans every year.
Whether they’re enacted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or drug manufacturers themselves, dozens of medications are recalled annually due to potentially dangerous defects. While many of those drugs are relatively new, some have been on the market for years, putting potentially millions of people at risk for developing complications, illnesses, and injuries.
Both drug manufacturers and the FDA are supposed to thoroughly review and test medications before they’re released to the market, but not all flaws are discovered in time, or drug manufacturers may intentionally hide information that shows their medications may cause complications in order to increase the chances that their drug will be approved for sale. Other times defects occur during the manufacturing or shipping processes.
The most common ways drugs become defective or dangerous include:
- Inaccurate labels—Drugs may be shipped with labels indicating different dosages than what’s actually in the pills, tablets, or formulas.
- Impurities—Medications may become tainted with dangerous impurities during the manufacturing process, which can put users at risk.
- Hidden side effects—Drug manufacturers may hide known side effects and complications from the FDA to ensure their billion-dollar investments are approved for sale.
At Ferrer Poirot Feller Daniel, our drug injury lawyers hold negligent drug manufacturers accountable when their products injure or sicken innocent people. Contact us today for a free consultation if you or someone you love was harmed by a medication.