Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. discontinued Accutane in 2009, after losing several lawsuits over the side effects of the drug. It claimed that it pulled the drug due to competition from generic versions, not for safety reasons.

Now, Roche Laboratories has settled out of court with John Peipert for an undisclosed amount. Peipert brought a lawsuit against Roche alleging that Accutane use caused his inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Prior to the settlement with Peipert, Roche had already lost six lawsuits and paid $56 million dollars to victims. Earlier this year, Andrew McCarrell was awarded $25.16 million in damages for his Accutane-related injuries. McCarrell developed IBD after taking Accutane, leading to five surgeries including the removal of his colon.

IBD is a life-altering disease. It can require extensive medical treatment, and in most cases that treatment cannot cure the disease and return you to the lifestyle you enjoyed before IBD. Although Accutane is no longer available, its victims are still feeling the side effects and deserve compensation.

If you or your loved one has suffered Accutane side effects such as IBD, you may be entitled to compensation. We urge you to contact an experienced Accutane lawyer as soon as you can. There may be time limits by which you must commence suit. Please contact an experienced Accutane lawyer in your area for more information.

Accutane (isotretinoin) use by pregnant women is so likely to cause serious complications and birth defects that a special program was created to prevent pregnant women from using the drug and women who were using it from becoming pregnant. The program is called iPLEDGE. Accutane is no longer on the market, but isotretinoin is still available in generic form.

Women are advised to stop taking isotretinoin at least 30 days before becoming pregnant to avoid the risks addressed by iPLEDGE. However, Accutane poses another risk for women who would like to have children after they have stopped taking the drug. Accutane use has been linked to the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

IBD does not go away when you stop taking Accutane. In most patients it is a life-long condition.

Studies have found that babies of mothers with IBD are twice as likely to be born prematurely, and more than twice as likely to be born below normal weight and also more than twice as likely to have birth defects. It appears that becoming pregnant during an active bout of IBD carries a higher risk than becoming pregnant when the disease is in remission.

If you or your loved one has suffered Accutane side effects such as IBD, you may be entitled to compensation. We urge you to contact an experienced Accutane lawyer as soon as you can. There may be time limits by which you must commence suit. Please contact an experienced Accutane lawyer in your area for more information.

You have probably been hearing about the health benefits of probiotics for many years. Yogurt is often recommended as a dietary source. It may sound like another health fad, but good bacteria in the gut are necessary for good health. Without the beneficial gut flora, harmful bacteria and microorganisms flourish leading to disease.

In our hyper hygienic society, we kill off the good bacteria along with the bad. Chlorinated water, antibiotics, and the processes through which we put our foods, all contribute to a lack of beneficial bacteria in our digestive systems. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn's disease, and other autoimmune diseases are rarely found in developing and Third World countries.

Recent studies have found that substances produce by certain strains of healthy gut bacteria act as an anti-inflammatory, improving the symptoms of IBD. However, people with IBD tend to be deficient in the bacteria that could help them. Now researchers are trying to identify the strains of bacteria that can both produce the anti-inflammatory substance and flourish in the digestive systems of people with IBD.

If you or your loved one has suffered Accutane side effects such as IBD, you may be entitled to compensation. We urge you to contact an experienced Accutane lawyer as soon as you can. There may be time limits by which you must commence suit. Please contact an experienced Accutane lawyer in your area for more information.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a serious condition involving the lower portions of the digestive tract. While the cause of IBD is uncertain in most cases, it can occur as a side effect of Accutane. IBD generally refers to two particular conditions: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation of the inner lining of the large intestine. This inflammation leads to ulcers along the intestinal wall. Symptoms include:

• Severe abdominal pain
• Bloody stool
• Frequent diarrhea
• Rectal bleeding

Treatment includes medication and dietary changes to reduce flare-ups. Ulcerative colitis never totally goes away, but can be kept in remission with appropriate treatment.

Crohn's Disease
Crohn's disease can affect any part of the intestines, but most commonly occurs in the lower part of the small intestine, as well as in the large intestine. It affects not only the intestinal lining, but causes inflammation in the entire intestinal wall, into layers much deeper than those affected by ulcerative colitis. Crohn's cannot be cured, but can be managed to reduce the severity of symptoms.

Accutane, a powerful medication used to treat severe acne, has been linked to cases of inflammatory bowel disease. If you have suffered IBD or any other severe side effects from a medication, please contact a pharmaceutical injury attorney in your area today for more information on possible compensation.

While no drug is completely without side effects, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) takes every drug through a long, complex process of approval before allowing it to be made available for general use. This approval process is meant to ensure that the benefits of a drug significantly outweigh the risks, and that the drug truly is effective for the condition it is meant to treat.

The Process of Approval
Before it can be approved for general use, the drug is subjected to a variety of trials, from laboratory trials to animal testing to long-term testing on humans under strict FDA oversight. The full approval process can take as long as eight to twelve years.

FDA testing occurs in three phases:

• Phase 1-the drug is tested on healthy volunteers to determine overall safety and various side effects
• Phase 2-the drug is tested on a few hundred patient volunteers to determine its effectiveness
• Phase 3-the drug moves into a large-scale trial on several hundred to several thousand patients to further determine results and adverse effects

Once this testing is completed, the FDA still has to make a final approval on the drug. This final review alone can take over two years.

Dangerous Drugs
In spite of the rigorous testing, some drugs that receive approval later prove to have dangerous and even deadly side effects. Often this is because, even in the last phase of testing, the number of people tested represents only a tiny percentage of the overall population.

If you have suffered severe side effects from any kind of medication, please contact a pharmaceutical injury attorney near you for more information on how you might be able to receive compensation.

Before a drug can go into general distribution in the US, it must undergo a lengthy approval process through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This process involves several levels of testing for safety and effectiveness. Any risks are noted, and if the benefits of the drug significantly outweigh the risks, the drug is likely to be approved.

Levels of Testing
A new drug typically undergoes three years or more of testing in the laboratory before application is made to the FDA to begin the approval process. The FDA process can take as long as another eight years.

FDA testing uses three phases of clinical trials, each one involving a larger sample group to determine the drug's effectiveness:

• Phase One-20-80 healthy volunteers, process takes about one year
• Phase Two-100-300 patient volunteers, process takes about two years
• Phase Three-1000-3000 patients, process takes about three years

After this testing is complete, the company developing the drug can submit an application to the FDA for approval. This process takes another two and a half years on average. The complete cost of the approval process averages $350 million.

The FDA uses this complex process to ensure drugs work as advertised, and that drugs that go on the market are accompanied by sufficient documentation of any possible risks or precautions.

In spite of the FDA's rigorous approval process, some drugs on the market still lead to serious and even deadly side effects. If you have suffered from serious side effects due to a prescription drug, please contact a pharmaceutical injury attorney in your area for more information about possible compensation.