Lawsuit Information Center
The popular “purple pill” heartburn drug Nexium is still on the radar of personal injury lawyers, who continue to talk to countless people who have been on the pill and experienced otherwise unexplainable bone fractures.
March 6, 2023 Update
We were supposed to get our first bellwether trial this month in the Nexium PPI kidney damage class action. That trial has now been pushed back to June 5, 2023. The second and third bellwether trials will follow in July and September. This is the second postponement of the Nexium bellwether trials and there is speculation that the most recent postponement is a sign that the parties are very close to inking a global settlement agreement.
Litigation
Back in 2010, the FDA warned that medical studies demonstrated a higher than normal risk in hip, wrist, and spine fractures among people over age 50 who used drugs like Nexium. People taking Nexium for over a year were found to be 2.6 times more likely to suffer a broken hip. The more Nexium taken, and the longer the time period, the higher the risk of a fracture. The drugmakers have a $13.6 billion industry, mostly divided between Nexium and Prilosec. These two drugs are proton pump inhibitors (PPI), which reduces gastric acid by limiting production.
The FDA changed the warning in 2010. In March of 2011, the FDA observed that short-term and low-dose use of Nexium carries a low risk of bone fractures. For that reason, it did not change the labeling for over-the-counter PPIs, though there is a risk that consumers might take the pills more frequently and for longer than directed.
The disconcerting thing about these lawsuits is that Nexium’s manufacturer, AstraZeneca, has produced documents in litigation that seem to indicate that they knew about the risks of broken bones, but didn’t warn their customers until the FDA made the move. Just another example of profits over people.
These lawsuits are being filed, many in the federal courts. As of yet, there has been no approved class action, and people with injuries are urged to contact a products liability lawyer immediately.
Other proton pump inhibitors include Prevacid, Aegerid, Protonix, Aciphex, and Vimovo.
Contact Us
If you have suffered a fracture and regularly take Nexium, Prilosec, or any other PPI for heartburn, contact our medication lawyers at 1.800.553.8082, or through our online portal.
For More Information
- Nexium Bone Fracture – learn more about these suits from this overview