Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog
Our lawyers continue to get calls from eye injury victims looking to bring an Elmiron lawsuit in the last few weeks. This class action is growing slowly but surely in 2022.
We do not know what the Elmiron settlement amounts will be. But I think these eye injury lawsuits have the potential to be extremely big cases with large individual settlement payouts. If you have a claim, you want to call an attorney sooner rather than later to protect your rights.
Our firm is currently accepting new Elmiron vision loss lawsuits. Call us today for a free case evaluation at 800-552-8082.
May 2022 Elmiron Lawsuit News
There are now 899 lawsuits in the federal Elmiron vision loss class action suit in New Jersey.
March 2022 Elmiron Lawsuit News
This month the judge in the Elmiron MDL will finalize the process for the selection of the first group of bellwether trial cases. The actual selection of the initial bellwether trial cases will occur on April 8. Meanwhile, the Elmiron “science day” will take place next week on March 25 and Judge Martinotti ordered counsel to submit a mandatory Case & Claim Data Form (“CCDF”) for all plaintiffs within 30 days.
There are now 783 lawsuits pending in the Elmiron MDL class action lawsuits that includes all Elmiorn suits filed in federal court.
February 2022 Elmiron News
The Elmiron lawsuit continues to push forward. There are over 800 cases filed, more than 700 in the MDL class action. Elmiron lawyers are already preparing for trial in January 2023, which will see the first Elmion eye injury lawsuit in the MDL class action go to trial.
With over 800 Elmiron lawsuits in federal court consolidation into an MDL, the Elmiron lawsuits pending in state courts in Janssen Pharmaceutical’s home state of New Jersey will now be consolidated into the New Jersey equivalent of an MDL. The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered this month that all Elmiron lawsuits in state courts will be consolidated before a single judge in the Superior Court of Bergen County.
September 2021 Elmiron Lawsuit News
There are now only 497 class action lawsuits filed as of August 13, 2021. Our Elmiron lawyers believe that number will soon be over 1,000 lawsuits. The Elmiron MDL (In Re: Elmiron (Pentosan Polysulfate Sodium) Prod. Liab. Litigation, MDL 2973) was established in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey under Judge Brian Martinotti at the end of last year. Judge Martinotti is an experienced and respected mass tort action judge. At first, the number of new Elmiron lawsuits being filed was slow, but over the Summer of 2021 the pace of new claims has increased dramatically. There are currently 497 Elmiron cases in the MDL and over half have been added over the last 4 months.
On September 30, 2021 (update: rescheduled to March 23, 2022), there will be a “Science Day” in the Elmiron MDL. Lawyers for both sides will educate the MDL judge with an overview of the key medical and scientific evidence related to Elmiron and the plaintiffs’ claims of eye injuries and blindness.
Elmiron History
Most of you know the Elmiron history. So I won’t do a deep drive here.
Ever since October 2019 when eye doctors in Atlanta identified a causal link between the interstitial cystitis drug Elmiron (pentosan polysulfate sodium or PPS) and eye and vision damage, patients have been filing Elmiron lawsuits in the hopes of recovering compensation for their injuries.
By December 2020, a full year after the initial release of study regarding the dangers of Elmiron, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) created a new Elmiron MDL consolidated all federally filed Elmiron lawsuits into one class action in the District of New Jersey for pre-trial proceedings.
Most of the plaintiffs in the Elmiron lawsuit allege that after using the drug, they suffered vision damage or loss from pigmentary maculopathy caused by extended use of Elmiron. We expect the number of Elmiron lawsuits filed to grow exponentially over 2022 as more people learn – perhaps through radio and television commercials – of the connection between their eye injury and Elmiron.
Elmiron MDL Moves Ahead With Discovery
The judge in the Elmiron MDL recently released case management order #8 showing the status of the litigation. There are currently just over 200 pending Elmiron cases alleging product liability claims. There are another 30 or 40 Elmiron cases pending in state courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
As cases continue to get added to the Elmiron MDL class action, Elmiron lawyers on both sides have been working under the direction of the judge to determine future actions in the litigation and take care of various MDL housekeeping matters. These include the drafting fact sheets for both plaintiffs and additional defendants and protocol for discovery and remote depositions. A scheduling order, including future trial dates, should also be forthcoming.
Representatives for both sides will also continue to confer regarding all discovery issues and will provide an update to the MDL court at the next case management conference. A “science day” is also being discussed, which would inform all parties about the available scientific evidence related to Elmiron and the plaintiffs’ claims. (Update: Science Day is in three days on March 25, 2022 as we discuss above.)
Additional Studies Confirm Link Between Elmiron and Eye Damage
A new study was published in Clinical Ophthalmology in February 2021, which looked at data from patients exposed to Elmiron who were seen in the ophthalmology clinic at Northwestern University between January 1, 2002, and January 1, 2019. The study looked at various data points including information on visual acuity, ocular conditions, and duration of Elmiron exposure.
A total of 131 patients were exposed to Elmiron and seen at the clinic. 40 of the 131 had imaging tests performed on their eyes and 12.5% of those with imaging tests had signs of possible pigmentary maculopathy.
Pigmentary maculopathy is the very unique type of retinal disease that has been associated with Elmiron use (and has no other known causes). Out of the remaining patient group, 5.4% had signs of pigmentary changes on their retina, which is also a characteristic of damage related to Elmiron use.
Among the 10 patients in the suspect group, the average duration of Elmiron use was 4.2 years at normal dosing. The authors of the study concluded that the evidence clearly supported the conclusion that prolonged use of Elmiron caused a novel maculopathy (injury to the macula at the center of the retina) that could cause serious vision damage and blindness.
Contact Miller & Zois About an Elmiron Lawsuit
If you have used Elmiron to treat a bladder condition and were subsequently diagnosed with maculopathy or have experienced vision loss or damage, you may be entitled to compensation. Our firm is currently accepting new Elmiron vision loss lawsuits. Call us today for a free case evaluation.