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Defective drugs defined A defective drug is one whose potential risks outweigh its intended benefits. The mere fact that a drug possesses serious dangers does not always mean it will be taken off the market. Instead, drug companies are likely only to add a warning to its labeling, allowing the drug to continue to be sold to unsuspecting patients.
Drug manufacturers are corporations, and as such their duty of loyalty is owed first and foremost
to their shareholders. This means that drug companies, like most other large corporations, are
primarily driven by money and profit per share. Unfortunately, drug companies have been caught
manipulating test information and often downplaying the possible adverse side effects found
in their drugs.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) often fails to conduct
adequate research on drug products or devotes less than sufficient time to perform a thorough screening
of drug products. This can lead to the approval of dangerous and defective drugs. The one countermeasure
to this dilemma is the lawyers who represent victims in product liability actions against the drug
companies in which they demand both compensation and sometimes punitive damages for their injured clients.
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