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For many decades, patients suffering from interstitial cystitis (IC), otherwise known as bladder pain syndrome (BPS), have been prescribed Elmiron by their physicians. Understanding the potential side effects advertised by the drug’s manufacturer, IC patients obliged.
However, recent studies have found a link between extended use of Elmiron and severe damage to the retina in the eye which can ultimately lead to blindness. The potential for such serious injury was never made public by the drug’s manufacturer, even though it is believed they may have been aware.
Patients who have developed eye injuries after using Elmiron for extended periods of time have already started taking legal action. If you’re suffering from eye conditions after taking Elmiron, you can too.
Learn more about the current Elmiron Lawsuit and what your legal options include if you are also suffering.
The experienced attorneys at The Product Lawyers have devoted their professional careers to standing up for the rights of consumers.
Drug manufacturers are often quick to take new medications to market. On the other hand, they are slow to act when new scientific studies come out suggesting that their loyal customers are being harmed by those same medications they sold to them.
In these cases, taking legal action against drug manufacturers may be the only way to get them to take responsibility for the harm they’ve caused. And perhaps most importantly, it can be the only way to prevent others from suffering the same fate.
Have you been taking Elmiron for many years to treat your interstitial cystitis or bladder pain syndrome? Are you now suffering from pigmentary maculopathy or other retinal injuries? Our lawyers are can help.
Even if you’re unsure whether you have a case, or if you’ve recently developed eye conditions that have yet to be identified by a doctor, call us at our free 24/7 helpline today to find out more about your options. You may be eligible for significant compensation.
Pentosan Polysulfate Sodium (PPS), marketed under the name brand Elmiron, has been on the market since the 1990s when it was introduced as a treatment option for interstitial cystitis (IC).
IC, which is also regularly called painful bladder syndrome (PBS), is a chronic condition that affects the bladder – the organ responsible for storing urine in the human body. To this day, it is not known why IC occurs, though we now understand the wide range of symptoms that can indicate that a patient has IC/BPS. Some of these include:
While no cure has been found for IC/BPS, there are treatment options that help ameliorate the symptoms. The most prominent of these treatments is prescribing patients with Elmiron.
The side effects that accompany Elmiron can be quite serious. However, in many cases, the discomfort experienced by IC patients is so great that they are willing to take the risk of suffering side effects with the hopes that their pain will be alleviated. Here are some of Elmiron’s advertised side effects:
As you can see, the most common Elmiron side effects make no mention of any kind of eye condition. This is likely why the alarms were raised when researchers at the Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, GA, published a study that found a close link between Elmiron and retinal injuries.
In 2018, Dr. Neiraj Jain and other colleagues at the Emory School of Medicine were quick to raise concerns in prominent medical Urology Journals when they found a potential connection between patients taking Elmiron for IC and the development of Pigmentary Maculopathy.
Pigmentary Maculopathy, also known as pentosan polysulfate sodium maculopathy, is a condition that affects the center of the retina (in the eye) and which is believed to be caused only by the extended use of Pentosan Polysulfate Sodium, the generic name for Elmiron.
The condition manifests as toxic deposits in the retina, the specific tissue in the eye that is associated with sensitive and accurate vision. IC patients who have taken Elmiron for many years and who may have this type of Pigmentary Maculopathy can experience:
The research study, which was published in 2018, took steps to confirm that genetic conditions were not at fault for the eye damage.
Of the study subjects, all were older than 37 years of age. Most had taken Elmiron for many years if not decades before they noticed any vision concerns. Tragically, one of the study patients had been diagnosed with IC/PBS at the age of 23; severe retinal damage was found just 7 years later when she was 30.
A similar study first released in 2019 also found that Elmiron could be seriously toxic to the retina. Doctors Robin Vora MD, Amar Patel MD, and Ronald Melles MD, ophthalmologists at Kaiser Permanente, performed an analysis of existing patients in their company’s database. Almost 25% of the patients who were on Elmiron for many years and whom the physicians were able to examine presented retinal toxicity similar to that described in the Emory study.
The Kaiser Permanente also found one patient’s eye condition had been erroneously diagnosed as age-related macular degeneration which likely led to less-than-ideal treatment.
With such momentous scientific studies bringing to light the concerns with Elmiron and retinal toxicity, numerous legal claims have already been filed in 2020 against the drug’s manufacturers; these include Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Teva.
The Elmiron lawsuits allege that the medication manufacturers knew about the potential for the medication to cause eye damage and did not alert patients currently on Elmiron regiments.
And yet, countless IC/PBS patients have been taking Elmiron for decades without knowing the irreversible harm they could have been causing to their valued eyes. For this reason, many TV commercials about Elmiron lawsuits have made it onto the airwaves – to alert the public and help victims to seek justice.
Fortunately, the civil justice system provides avenues for victims of the drug manufacturer’s negligence to be compensated.
Through a legal claim, IC patients who have developed eye damages as a result of taking Elmiron can take the manufacturers to court and demand they be compensated for the damages suffered. Such damages can include:
These are only some of the types of compensation that individuals could be awarded by filing a claim. Each patient’s injuries will likely be different from the last, so it’s important for cases to be handled individually by experienced legal teams.
The Product Lawyers are just that team. We have litigated class-action suits against negligent product manufacturers in the past and we know what it takes to win compensation on behalf of our clients.
Contact us today for a 100% free legal consultation. If you chose to work with us, know that it will be on contingency, which means that if you don’t win your case, you’ll owe us nothing in legal fees.
Don’t delay as time limits for filing a legal claim exist. Contact us via our 24/7 helpline or fill out the form on this page so that our team may reach out to you at a later time.
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Elmiron manufacturers' website: https://www.orthoelmiron.com/
Elmiron side effects reported: https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-14085/elmiron-oral/details
Elmiron 100MG Pentosan Polysulfate Sodium Capsules FDA Label to treat Interstitial Cystitis
