Lemtrada Forced To Update Black Box Warning To Include Chance of Stroke

Lemtrada Stroke Lawsuit News

RRMS sufferers have little to lose by the time doctors resort to Lemtrada

Friday, May 10, 2019 - The US Food and Drug Administration ordered the maker of anti-seizure drug Lemtrada to warn patients via a "black box" of the stoke hazards caused by taking the drug. The FDA described the warning as follows: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that rare but serious cases of stroke and tears in the lining of arteries in the head and neck have occurred in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) shortly after they received Lemtrada (alemtuzumab). These problems can lead to permanent disability and even death. As a result, we have added a new warning about these risks to the prescribing information in the drug label and to the patient Medication Guide. We have also added the risk of stroke to the existing Boxed Warning, FDA's most prominent warning."

Black Box warnings are reserved for drugs that may cause serious injury and death. Doctors using Lemtrada are advised to monitor their RRMS patients for the first 24-hours after treatment and to watch for the patient developing headaches, numbness, grogginess, slurred speech, blurred eyesight, and dizziness. Lemtrada is advised as a last resort when all other RRMS drugs have failed. Lemtrada stroke lawsuit attorneys representing families and individuals in the U.S. offer a no obligation, free consultation before filing a claim.

Like cancer or heart disease, multiple sclerosis patients suffer terribly and the disease can take years to play out. Multiple sclerosis is a insidious disease where the outer sheath that protects nerve cells gradually disintegrates allowing the nerve to be continually stimulated. The seizure symptoms of multiple sclerosis usually begin as slight yet uncontrollable tics or mild seizures, occuring at infrequent intervals but gradually increase in frequency and severity until eventually the seizures become continuous. Such a condition is called Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS). Patients are prescribed a number of different drugs to control their RRMS seizures however most eventually fail to force the doctor to resort to the most toxic and controversial drug on the market, one that is reserved for extreme cases only and only when all other treatments fail. That name of that drug is alemtuzumab, known to many by its trade name, Lemtrada.

Lemtrada is administered by infusion once or twice per year. While Lemtrada has been highly effective at controlling the intervals in between RRMS seizures, the drug's side effects make it of little value. RRMS patients receiving Lemtrada report that within 24-hours of receiving Lemtrada a higher than acceptable number have experienced ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and cervicocephalic arterial dissection, i.e., a stroke caused by a blood clot that blocks the blood flow to the artery leading to the brain and causing permanent, total or partial paralysis.

According to Multiple Sclerosis News Today, Lemtrada patients commonly experience horrible side effects in addition to the risk of stroke, such as "rashes, joint pain, fungal infections, fatigue, urinary, and upper respiratory tract infections, nausea, viral infections, infusion site infections, thyroid and skin cancer, and lymphoproliferative disorders." On April 12, 2019, Lemtrada was officially put under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

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OnderLaw, LLC is a St. Louis personal injury law firm handling serious injury and death claims across the country. Its mission is the pursuit of justice, no matter how complex the case or strenuous the effort. The Onder Law Firm has represented clients throughout the United States in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation such as Pradaxa, Lexapro and Yasmin/Yaz, where the firm's attorneys held significant leadership roles in the litigation, as well as Actos, DePuy, Risperdal and others. The Onder Law Firm has won more than $300 million in four talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits in St. Louis. Law firms throughout the nation often seek its experience and expertise on complex litigation.