Accutane Inflammatory Bowel Disease Harsh Blow to Roche

The makers of the controversial, banned acne drug Accutane have appealed a case they lost against plaintiff Kamie Kendall, who won $10 million after suffering Accutane inflammatory bowel disease. Roche went down a similar road back in 2007, with plaintiff Andrew McCarrell, who won over $2 million in his initial trial against the Swiss drugmaker. However, Roche appealed the case – as they are doing now with Kamie Kendall’s case – and ended up losing again. This time, the jury ruled that they should award McCarrell over $25 million – a staggering loss for the company, and a settlement that McCarrell surely never expected.

The retrial in the Kendall case, scheduled for next month, may upset the former verdict. However, Roche may be taking a risk they can’t afford. Despite the outcome of many trials and studies, Roche still refutes the claim that Accutane is a cause of inflammatory bowel disease. They claimed in a statement after the 2007 McCarrell trial that there was “no reliable scientific evidence that Accutane causes inflammatory bowel disease.” This was also claimed in the 2010 retrial of the McCarrell case – a case that was lost, with devastating consequences for the company. Many plaintiffs are currently disputing this claim in court by filing Accutane lawsuits.

The gastroenterologist David Sachar presented compelling evidence that contradicted Roche’s claim, including several studies conducted by Roche and other research teams that linked Accutane with inflammatory bowel disease and other gastrointestinal conditions. There are many dangerous Accutane side effects.

Roche was barred from presenting numerical data on the number of inflammatory bowel disease cases associated with Accutane in the original Kendall trial, which is why a retrial was permitted. Kendall was able to use numbers to support her case, and cited the fact that Roche was aware of at least 104 cases or inflammatory bowel disease in patients, of which 33 were rated as possibly caused by or otherwise linked to the drug.

It is yet to be seen whether Roche is making a huge mistake or if they could luck out this time. However, based on their track record, it looks like luck is not on their side.