Accutane Lawyers Optimistic About Settlements

The acne drug Accutane was introduced as a popular cure for severe acne, although the medication itself (isotretinoin) was originally introduced as a chemotherapy drug, a powerful medication that helped to kill cancer cells. Researchers noticed that the medication was also highly effective against acne, giving a number of patients with severe and difficult to treat cases of acne hope for the future. However, a few patients began to notice certain conditions developing as a result of Accutane use—namely, various forms of accutane inflammatory bowel diesase. These conditions, including Crohn’s disease and accutane ulcerative colitis, are debilitating, painful, and often permanent. 

However, for some Accutane patients there is a light at the end of this tunnel. A number of patients affected by Accutane inflammatory bowel diseases and other accutane side effects have made the decision to file suit against drugmaker Hoffman-La Roche, and as Bloomberg News observed in 2010, the drugmaker lost the first 7 Accutane side effects personal injury cases that were seen in court since 2007.
They did successfully appeal one case, that of plaintiff Andrew McCarrell, but the retrial awarded McCarrell even more than he had been awarded in the first place—ten times more, to be exact. His final winnings were over $25 million, when he had initially been awarded $2.5 million.

McCarrell’s winnings are the greatest that have been achieved from an Accutane case, but it is not unusual for plaintiffs’ winnings to be in the millions, especially considering the severity of the side effects. Inflammatory bowel diseases are often permanent and necessitate extensive, often lifelong, treatments which can include medications and surgeries. These can be expensive, but the financial cost is usually nothing compared to the loss of quality of life that a number of patients, unfortunately, experience.

Accutane cases have been consolidated in a mass tort litigation that is currently being dealt with in courts in Atlantic County, New Jersey. This process will help speed up litigation while still keeping cases individualized so settlements can be tailored to the specific needs of a plaintiff. 

In total, drugmaker Hoffman-La Roche has reportedly paid out more than $50 million in Accutane settlements. This number is only expected to continue to grow.