Legal options?

[30goingon60]

I'm a 33 year old male who took accutane at 14 17 and 20 for mild/moderate acne. There is no question this is one of the most dangerous drugs ever created, and I blame it for taking my one life away from me. I've been on the forums over the years sympathizing with the others who are suffering as well, but have never seen any mention of legal action. With over 12 million people having taken this drug worldwide, isn't there anyway we could organize some kid of class action law suit against Roche for wrongful actions and fraudulent tactics? I guarantee 99.9% of the people who took it had no idea the long term ramifications and serious health issues that could arise.

It seems that with the internet now a days, starting a petition to gather as many people as possible would be a more a realistic possibility than ever before.

 

[30goingon60]

So it seems there have been petitions, but closed with only 300+ signatures. Anyone know why?

 

[tanedout]

Unfortunately suing big pharmaceutical companies is extremely difficult - they have immense resources and extremely strong legal representation. There have been something like 1400 cases by fin sufferers (obviously these are generally guys in much stronger financial positions than accutane victims) and I'm not aware of any successful cases.

The fact the side effects vary from person to person and to an extent change over time also doesn't help matters. Working out how the stuff actually works, and how you can identify whether someone has been affected or not needs to be established first really.

 

[flynn]

Unfortunately suing big pharmaceutical companies is extremely difficult - they have immense resources and extremely strong legal representation. There have been something like 1400 cases by fin sufferers (obviously these are generally guys in much stronger financial positions than accutane victims) and I'm not aware of any successful cases.

The fact the side effects vary from person to person and to an extent change over time also doesn't help matters. Working out how the stuff actually works, and how you can identify whether someone has been affected or not needs to be established first really.

I agree here, it would be difficult but not impossible. The real issue is that due to the lack of research into the mechanism of action of Accutane. Claims that Accutane caused certain side effects can be disputed as there is no hard science to back these claims up. Its a nightmare scenario. I'm far more hopeful that the community can organise to raise funds, and fund studies into identifying the underlying causes of PAS and a treatment option.

I've said this before, I'm convinced there are many thousands of people worldwide who have PAS but are either not aware of the cause or are not connected to the online community. With the rate of Accutane prescriptions, in 10 years time. I imagine there will be a substantial patient population with persisting PAS symptoms. If these people can be organised, we could generate a significant amount of research interest and money.