Cases selected for pretrial discovery in Fosamax femur fracture lawsuit

Thirty-three cases have been selected for early trial by the lawyers involved in the Fosamax litigation.  An order released by the U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown stated that a telephone conference is not scheduled for 11/22/2011 in order to discuss and finalize the two sides’ selection of bellwether cases.  The bellwether cases will be used to find out the strengths and weaknesses of all of the current and future Fosamax femur fracture cases.

The allegations have been similar in all of the lawsuits that have been brought against Merck & Co., the manufacturer or Fosamax.  These allegations state that the osteoporosis drug Fosamax increases the risk of femur fractures when the drug is taken for one year or more.

The drug was initially created in order to strengthen bones in patients suffering from osteoporosis, but the drug has been alleged to do the opposite.  Some of the complaints Merck faces include claims of random and spontaneous femur fractures during low impact exercises such as jogging, walking, going up and down the stairs and sitting or standing.

In 10/2010, the FDA mandated the manufacturer of Fosamax, Merck, to update the warning labels for their product to display the risk of Fosamax femur fractures associated with the use of the drug.  For those experiencing pain in their thigh, it is highly urged to seek medical attention as this may be an early indicator of a Fosamax femur fracture.

At Judge Brown’s request, the parties have agreed upon a group of cases they believe should be used for early discovery in the Fosamax lawsuit.  Previously, there were thirty-nine cases identified by the parties to be included in early discovery.  Of these thirty-nine cases, nineteen were chosen by Merck and nineteen were chosen by the plaintiffs, with one unanimous choice as well.  Six of these cases were removed however, as some generic drug makers and plaintiffs who did not want to have their cases tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, leaving a final tally of thirty-three cases selected.

Fosamax Lawsuit Information Resource

More information on Fosamax lawsuits available at: http://cleveland.injuryboard.com/fda-and-prescription-drugs/

Attorneys Designated to PSC Intended for Fosamax Femur Multidistrict Litigation

This past October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated updated labeling information with regard to Fosamax in order to advise of your chance of atypical femur breaks. The notice has been based in research which demonstrates a connection among long term use of the medicine, most commonly prescribed to post-menopausal women for the prevention of osteoporosis, and femur bone injuries that can arise after little if any impact. In accordance with the Fosamax prescription medication manual, an individual really should get in touch with their physician immediately when experiencing completely new or uncommon hip, groin, or perhaps thigh soreness.

The judge presiding over the Fosamax lawsuits for femur fractures multidistrict litigation (MDL) just lately designated the committee of law firms to take action with respect to plaintiffs suing drugmaker Merck & Company due to its medicine's propensity to cause irregular thigh bone cracks.

If you have suffered a femur crack that you believe is linked to Bisphosphonate, you need to get in touch with us right away. Through a lawsuit against Merck, you could be in a position to recoup monetary reparations for your health-related expenses, lost pay, as well as other damages, but you risk receiving nothing at all without professional representation.

Multidistrict litigation is really a procedural mechanism that enables individuals with similar legal claims versus a common defendant to be able to consolidate their own lawsuits with the purposes of increased performance as well as resource conservation. In May a Alendronate femur bone fracture MDL had been set up by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) in answer for the increasing amount of problems that this bone-strengthening medicine Fosamax leads to low-impact femur fractures, a type of leg injury that may happen following accidents from standing height or perhaps less. Thus far, approximately sixty plaintiffs currently have accused Merck of failing to sufficiently study and give warning of the possible Fosamax side effects.

Overseeing the consolidated Alendronate legal cases is Examine Garrett E. Brown, Junior.  He is in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. On July fourteen The Judge appointed ten attorneys to a PSC. The people in this board will behave as liaisons for the additional Bisphosphonate femur law firms that represent plaintiffs inside the MDL and are responsible for coordinating the actual litigation versus Merck. Their obligations include things like planning discovery and also proceedings, callings group meetings involving plaintiffs' counsel, as well as discussing together with Merck's legal professionals.

If you need help with a legal case, Fosamax lawsuit attorneys are standing by to answer your questions.

Fosamax Lawsuits Moving Forward

Fosamax femur break cases, centered on allegations that bisphosphonate-class osteoporosis medicines such as Fosamax, Boniva, and Actonel lead to weak, brittle bones, have been combined in a federal district court in New Jersey.  Under this Multi-District Litigation ("MDL") structure, the Judge, Garrett E. Brown, Jr., will be presiding over these lawsuits.

Judge Brown is a U.S. District Court judge. Just recently, Judge Brown designated some attorneys to serve as leaders for the MDL. Fosamax lawyers at the Spangenberg Law Firm have indicated that these lawyers will probably be in charge of helping to form the course of litigation on issues such as discovery along with other duties. (Attorneys with the Spangenberg Law Practice (877-696-3303) have been recently in these kinds of leadership roles in past MDL actions, most recently serving as the "liaison counsel" between the Court and the Plaintiff's Steering Committee in the Gadolinium/NSF trials.)

These attorneys will perform certain actions during the coordinated pretrial litigation that will help all of the plaintiffs that have filed a lawsuit over a broken femur from Fosamax.

In May, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all complaints relating to fractured bones on Fosamax will be moved to Judge Brown. The lawsuits involve very similar allegations that negative effects involving Fosamax escalate the danger associated with atypical femur fractures, which may happen with little or no trauma at all.

Plaintiffs argue that bisphosphonate manufacturers made a defective item, and failed to properly alert customers of these types of dangers. The FDA demanded new warnings about the risk of Fosamax thigh bone breaks in October 2010, and a growing quantity of Fosamax attorneys through the entire United States have already been reviewing and filing lawsuits since that time on the part of those who suffered a sudden femur break while taking the medication.

Those who have suffered from a femur break after using bisphosphonates for 3 or more years really should contact a Fosamax lawyer to guard their rights.

Researcher With Financial Interest In Bisphosphonates Verifies Increased Risk Of Atypical Femur Fractures With Bisphosphonates Like Fosamax, Reclast

A researcher with financial ties to a company that hopes to commercialize a bisphosphonate product (and to which he holds the patent) has confirmed that bisphosphonates like Fosamax and Reclast increase the risk of an atypical femur fracture. (what is a femoral shaft fracture?) Bisphosphonates are a class of osteoporosis drugs—including the very-popular drug Fosamax—that have been linked to increased risk of bone breaks like femur fractures as well as other potential Fosamax injuries.

The study, published on May 5, 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine (“NEJM”), found that the increased risk of an “atypical” fracture in bisphosphonate-using women 55 and older was "higher with an increasing duration of bisphosphonate use, with an odds ratio of 1.3 . . . per 100 prescribed daily doses. This risk was approximately 10 times as high as a normal level of risk within the first 2 years of use and 50 times as high thereafter.”

Dr. Per Aspenberg and his associates conducted the study on 1,234 women 55 years and older who suffered from a femoral shaft fracture.

Dr. Aspenberg admitted in his disclosure form to the NEJM to “receiving consulting fees from [drug manufacturer] Eli Lilly and Amgen and grant support to his institution, Linköping University, from Eli Lilly and Amgen, as well as holding stock in AddBIO, a company trying to commercialize a method for bisphosphonate coating of implants to be inserted in bone, and holding a patent for this method.” Eli Lilly is not a current bisphosphonate manufacturer.

Common Bisphosphonates and their manufacturers include:

·       Fosamax (Merck & Company).

·       Boniva (Roche and GlaxoSmithKline) 

·       Actonel (Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi Pharmaceuticals).

·       Skelid (Sanofi Pharmaceuticals)

·       Didronel (Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals)

·       Reclast and Zometa (Novartis Pharmaceuticals)

The Spangenberg law firm has provided information on potential Fosamax lawsuits at www.my-fosamax-lawsuit.com. The website provides information on Fosamax femur fractures and other possibly Fosamax-related injuries. The Spangenberg law firm can also be reached at 1-877-696-3303.

Do Men Suffer From Fosamax-Related Injuries?

Men suffer from osteoporosis and were prescribed Fosamax, not just women.  In fact, as the International Osteoporosis Foundation lists the following statistics about men and osteoporosis:

•  About 20-25% of hip fractures occur in men. The overall mortality is about 20% in the first 12 months after hip fracture and is higher in men than women.
• It is estimated that the lifetime risk of experiencing an osteoporotic fracture in men over the age of 50 is 30%, similar to the lifetime risk of developing prostate cancer.
• Vertebral fractures may cause equal morbidity in men and women. Hip fractures in men cause significant morbidity and loss of normal functioning.
• Although the overall prevalence of fragility fractures is higher in women, men generally have higher rates of fracture related mortality.
• As in women, the mortality rate in men after hip fracture increases with age and is highest in the year after a fracture. Over the first 6 months, the mortality rate in men approximately doubled that in similarly aged women.
• Forearm fracture is an early and sensitive marker of male skeletal fragility. In aging men, wrist fractures carry a higher absolute risk for hip fracture than spinal fractures in comparison to women.
• In Sweden, osteoporotic fractures in men account for more hospital bed days than those due to prostate cancer.
• 30% of hip fractures and 20% of vertebral fractures occur in men.

Men can suffer Fosamax-related injuries just like post-menopausal women.  (In fact, it isn’t just post-menopausal women, either; some evidence suggests that Fosamax was prescribed increasingly as a preventative treatment for osteoporosis in pre-menopausal women, too.)

Fosamax injuries include femur, or thighbone, fractures, which can be devastating injuries for men and women.  Activities that might result in a Fosamax-related femur fracture include walking down steps, sitting or standing, and walking.  The FDA has reported on the alarming incidence of femur fractures for long-term Fosamax users.  

The Spangenberg law firm has provided information on potential Fosamax lawsuits at www.my-fosamax-lawsuit.com.  The website provides information on Fosamax femur fractures and other possibly Fosamax-related injuries.  The Spangenberg law firm can also be reached at 1-877-696-3303.  

Patients—men or women—suffering from this type of injury after taking Fosamax should consult with a Fosamax injury attorney soon to evaluate whether they have a Fosamax-related potential legal claim.  There may be a statute of limitations clock running, which limits the time period in which you can file a lawsuit.  

Learn more about the Fosamax statute of limitations.

How Do I Find a Fosamax Injury Attorney?

Get more information at www.my-fosamax-lawsuit.com

If you have taken Fosamax or its generic form Alendronate and believe you have been injured as a result, you may want to contact the Fosamax Injury Attorneys at Spangenberg Shibley & Liber now for a free, confidential case evaluation. 

Whether you've been injured by Fosamax Atypical Femur Fractures, Fosamax Esophageal (Throat) Cancer, Fosamax Osteonecrosis of the Jaw ("ONJ" or "dead jaw"), or Fosamax Heart Conditions like atrial fibrillation, Fosamax injury attorneys may be able to help you determine if you have a Fosamax lawsuit.  This process is confidential.  (Be sure to read the disclaimer for this blog for other important information.)

Remember, there is likely a Fosamax statute of limitations clock running that will prevent you from filing a Fosamax femur fracture lawsuit if you wait too long.  A  Fosamax injury attorney can help you determine what the time frame is, and help protect your right to fair compensation.

You can always seek other attorneys as well, and should always exercise common sense and diligence in making this critical decision.

Have you or a loved one been injured by Fosamax, or suspect you have?  Please leave a comment below to discuss, and contact a Fosamax injury attorney directly for legal advice.

How Does Fosamax Work?

Fosamax and other bisphosphonates work by interrupting the normal process of bone formation and degradation. Your body builds bone with one type of cell (osteoblasts), and takes bone away with another type of cell (osteoclasts). As people age, the re-absorption (or degradation) of the bones by osteoclasts can outpace the creation of bone by osteoblasts.  Severe bone loss is referred to as "osteoporosis."  That's what drugs like Fosamax were supposed to fight.

Fosamax (alendronate) stops the cells that take bone away, leading to an increase in total bone mass. But studies are showing that Fosamax patients’ bones are actually weaker, despite Fosamax making them denser. As ABC news reported, this can lead to devastating bone injuries like femoral fractures:

"We are seeing people just walking, walking down the steps, patients who are doing low-energy exercise,” said Dr. Kenneth Egol, professor of orthopedic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center. “Very unusual, the femur is one of the strongest bones in the body."

Fosamax patients who have suffered these types of injuries are filing Fosamax femur fracture lawsuits.  Fosamax Injury Attorneys can help these people determine whether they have a valid Fosamax lawsuit or not.  If you or a loved one think you might have been injured by Fosamax, contact a Fosamax Injury Attorney for more information.

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What is A Femoral Fracture?

"Femoral" refers to the femur, or the thigh bone.  One of the strongest bones in the body, it usually requires a great deal of force in order to cause a femur fracture.  As the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons explain on their website:

To break the thighbone across its length (shaft) takes a great deal of force, as might occur in a motor vehicle accident or a fall from a high place. Because of this, a broken thighbone is often associated with potentially life-threatening injuries to other body systems.

Symptoms of a femoral fracture include severe pain,inability to move the leg, deformity, and swelling.  A broken femur can be life threatening.

As eMedicine explains:

The femur is the largest and strongest bone and has a good blood supply. Because of this and its protective surrounding muscle, the shaft requires a large amount of force to fracture. Once a fracture does occur, this same protective musculature usually is the cause of displacement, which commonly occurs with femoral shaft fractures.


As with many orthopedic injuries, neurovascular complications and pain management are the most significant issues in patients who come to the ED. The rich blood supply, when disrupted, can result in significant bleeding. Open fractures have added potential for infection.

While normally a large amount of force is required to break the bone, evidence suggests that patients taking the bisphosphonate Fosamax (R) can suffer abnormal, or "atypical" femur fractures.  These atypical femur fractures do not require much force, and otherwise healthy-seeming femurs break all too easily.

Learn more about Fosamax(R) and Fosamax Femur Fracture Lawsuits at our Fosamax Fracture Lawsuit website.

Have you or a loved one suffered from a femur fracture?  Please leave a comment and share your story below!