Many prescription medications have side effects, and some of those side effects are serious. Sometimes, the benefits of the medication outweigh the potential side effects and the side effects are clearly communicated to doctors and patients so that educated decisions can be made about whether a particular medication should be prescribed.
Other Times the Drug Has a Design Defect
Pharmaceutical companies have duty to provide reasonably safe medications. That process starts with designing a safe medication for manufacturing or creating a blueprint for the creation of a safe medication. While safe is not synonymous with risk-free, it does mean that the pharmaceutical company has:
- Adequately tested its new medication to determine if the design is safe.
- Truthfully complied with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the approval process of the medication.
- Thought about any potential complications with other medications or foods that could be reasonably anticipated.
- Identified the risks that could be reasonably discovered and taken steps to warn medical professionals and patients about those risks.
Creating medications is hard. Patients, doctors and pharmaceutical companies often want to get new medications approved by the FDA as quickly as possible. Doctors and patients want new medications to provide pain relief or medical treatment and pharmaceutical companies want to start selling their products. However, a safe product starts with adequate testing for a safe design.
Would You Know If Your Medication Had a Defective Design?
The first thing that you would know is that you were hurt. If you experience any physical symptoms you should see your doctor. Your doctor may be able to determine if your symptoms are the result of a specific medication. If they are, and if you were not warned about the potential for these side effects, then you should contact a pharmaceutical class action lawyer.
An attorney can help you investigate what caused your injury, and if it was a design defect or another cause of a medication injury, then your attorney can help you get the recovery that you deserve. For more information, please schedule a free consultation with an experienced lawyer today by calling 1-800-800-5678.