Fosamax Lawsuits

Fosamax was touted as a wonder drug for osteoporosis. More than 30
million prescriptions were written last year. But now some say the drug
has ruined their lives.

Stella Poe took Fosamax for about eight years to help strengthen her aging bones.

"I have no bone in my jaw, I’ve lost all my teeth, and there’s nothing they can do for me." She said. "I didn’t know I was going to lose all my teeth. No one told me."

Poe is one of dozens of former patients suing pharmaceutical giant Merck, the maker of Fosamax.

"It’s a contradiction. It’s supposed to build bones yet it, of course, deteriorates the jawbones in, primarily, the elderly," Attorney Tim Maloney said.

Maloney says he’s ready to file almost two dozen lawsuits because of Fosamax related osteonecrosis (ONJ) of the jaw. This is when the bone literally dies. This disease has been linked to bisphoshonates, the active ingredient in drugs used to build bones.

The majority of cases are seen when the drug is given intravenously to cancer patients, but in the last few years, ONJ began to show up in Fosamax users.

Merck, already facing 15 lawsuits over ONJ, issued a statement about its $13 billion a year drug. They say their trials, including more than 17,000 patients they never saw one case of ONJ.

Dr. Steven Milam heads the maxillofacial surgical department at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

"About 350 cases, approximately, have been reported and we’re pretty sure those constitute a very small percentage of the actual cases."

Milan agrees with Merck’s claim that most cases of ONJ are caused by intravenous bisphoshonates users, but with 36 million prescriptions of Fosamax last year, he says it’s only a matter of time.

"It wouldn’t surprise me if within five years we’re not looking at, potentially, well over 100,000 or 200,000 patients that suffer from these conditions," Milan said.

In an interview with Dr. Robert Heaney of Creighton University provided to the I-Team by Merck, Heaney says the chances of getting ONJ are one in a million.

"The benefit from receiving oral bisphoshonates treatment for osteoporosis far, far outweigh any risk of anything associated with ONJ."

Maloney says the trial will prove Merck with knew information about the problem before the drug hit the market and they rolled the dice.

Poe says she is not a gambler.

"If there was a warning, I wouldn’t have taken it. … I wouldn’t have taken it," she said.

When Poe began taking Fosamax, her attorney says there was no mention of ONJ under the warning label. In 2005, the FDA requested Merck include that in their warning. It has been there ever since, but patients like Poe say they were never told.

Source: KENS 5 Eyewitness News, www.mysanantonio.com