Virginia Beach, VA Injury Attorney Reports: Cancer Drug Adcetris is Linked to Brain Swelling

By John Cooper, Virginia Beach, VA Dangerous Drugs Attorney

A warning has been issued over a cancer drug after two new cases of a life-threatening brain inflammation were diagnosed in patients treated with the lymphoma drug brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris).

The link between the drug and dangerous inflammation, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), has led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a new warning on the drug’s label, medpagetoday reported.

In total three patients have now been diagnosed with the brain inflammation. A previous case was diagnosed during clinical trials of the drug and was noted in the old label’s “warning section.

Symptoms of PML include sudden changes in mood or behavior, confusion, physical weakness, loss of cognition, and sudden problems with speech, vision, or walking.

“Separately, the agency also warned that brentuximab vedotin should not be given in combination with bleomycin after a clinical trial found that “an excessive number of patients” receiving both drugs had developed pulmonary toxicity. Symptoms included cough, dyspnea, and interstitial infiltration seen in chest images,” medpagetoday reported.

As experienced personal injury lawyers based in Norfolk, VA, we are alarmed by the large number of dangerous drugs on the market that can leave patients with a new set of symptoms from the ones the drugs are meant to treat.

Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella birth control pills manufactured by Bayer, are a case in point.

Some of the awful side effects suffered by young women include stroke, blood clots, gallstones and , depression-like symptoms. In some cases women have even died.

And Paxil, a drug that was approved in 1993, has been linked to side effects such as mood swings, depression and even suicide.

In a recent article we highlighted the pain and suffering caused by defective DePuy hip implants.

Last year Actos manufactured by Takeda and Eli Lilly emerged as the danger drug of 2011, after a study revealed this diabetes drug was linked to bladder cancer. Numerous lawsuits are have been filed over Actos and its link to bladder cancer.

DM

The Norfolk and Virginia Beach based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles car, truck, and motorcycle injuries as well as brain injury, wrongful death, railroad workers’ injuries (FELA) mesothelioma and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010 and has been a member since 2011 of the Multimillion dollar Advocates Roundtable. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us (757) 455 -0077. For a free consultation with a specialized Hampton Roads, Virginia personal injury lawyer contact us through this website