IBD Does Major Harm to Accutane Users

Accutane side effects have been found to cause permanent damage to internal organs, such as the bowel or intestines. This has left many users with severe stomach and gastrointestinal problems that cause a great deal of pain and have a devastating impact on their quality of life. In light of the Accutane lawsuits being filed by families and patients, many people are wondering what extent Accutane manufacturer Hoffmann-La Roche went to in order to minimize the appearance of deadly and severe Accutane side effects. In addition to failing to readily disclose Accutane side effects to the FDA, Roche knew about the birth defects that could occur with Accutane and pregnant women years before ever getting the 1982 FDA approval. Despite this knowledge, the FDA and the Roche SMART program aimed at preventing fetal death and birth defects in women using Accutane was not implemented until 2000.


Inflammatory bowel disease is one of the many serious Accutane side effects that involves a group of conditions that impact the colon and small intestines, with symptoms like: abdominal Pain, vomiting, diarrhea and Rectal Bleeding and weight Loss. The harm to infants whose mothers have taken Accutane during the pregnancy or shortly before getting pregnant is so clear that both the manufacturer, Hoffman La Roche and the FDA have worked to create programs to make sure that patients taking the drug do not become pregnant. These efforts have not been successful and both pregnancies and birth defects continue to occur.

There are now at least 3,000 Accutane lawsuits that have been filed in New Jersey state court alleging that makers of the acne medication failed to adequately warn about the risk of serious and debilitating bowel problems from Accutane. According to the most recent case list released by the New Jersey courts, the first Accutane lawsuit was filed on September 23, 2004 and the 3,000th case was filed earlier this year, on February 9, 2011. All of the cases involve similar allegations that the drug makers failed to adequately research the potential side effects of Accutane or warn about the potential risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis and Accutane Crohn’s disease.