Courts Consistently Finding for Accutane Victims

Another Accutane Lawsuit is underway in New Jersey state court involving a plaintiff who allegedly suffered Accutane inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an acne medication sold by Roche. Priya Tanna accuses Roche of failing to adequately warn about the risks of taking Accutane. However, the drug maker argues that there was a 7-step warning process in place before Tanna was prescribed Accutane. In its statement, Roche said it believes that the evidence at trial demonstrated that Accutane did not cause Tanna's disease. "Roche acted appropriately in providing information to the medical, scientific and regulatory communities," the company said. A source said that Judge Carol E. Higbee of the Atlantic County Superior Court declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

Approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1982, Accutane has been the subject of controversy for years. It first garnered attention in the late eighties for causing severe birth defects. It has also been known to cause psychiatric problems, and has been linked to hundreds of cases of suicide in the United States. Accutane has also been associated with problems of the liver, kidneys, central nervous system, and pancreas, as well as the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and autoimmune systems. In April, a New Jersey jury awarded $2 million in compensation to a woman who developed ulcerative colitis from Accutane. However, the same jury declined to award damages to two other plaintiffs involved in the same trial.

Roche has lost all seven Accutane cases that have been considered by juries since 2007, including the last three in a row. Following one 2007 trial in New Jersey state court, Roche was able to successfully overturn a jury’s award of $2.62 million in compensation awarded to a man who developed inflammatory bowel problems. However, that case was retried earlier this year and another New Jersey jury awarded the same man more than $25 million. Since then, Roche has begun to stop seeking retrials in many cases. Tanna’s is just one of over 6,000 cases currently involved in the New Jersey MDL.