Philadelphia County Establishes a Mass Tort Docket for Trasylol Cases

On November 5, 2007, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that, at the FDA’s request, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation agreed to a marketing suspension of Trasylol, a drug used to control bleeding during heart surgery, pending a detailed review of results from a Canadian study that suggested an increased risk for death.

Following publication of the Blood conservation using antifibrinolytics: A randomized trial in a cardiac surgery population (BART) study in the May 14, 2008 online issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Trasylol (aprotinin), notified the FDA of their intent to remove all remaining supplies of Trasylol from hospital pharmacies and warehouses. Future supplies of Trasylol are only available through the company as an investigational drug under a special treatment protocol.

The Trasylol lawyers at the Levensten Law Firm have filed several Complaints in Philadelphia County alleging wrongful death and other personal injuries. The common pattern we see in our cases involves patients undergoing bypass surgery and subsequently developing kidney failure, which leads to complete organ failure and death.

Close to forty (4) Trasylol personal injury cases and Trasylol wrongful death cases have been filed in Philadelphia County. On June 25, 2008, the Court convened the first status conference for all Trasylol lawyers handling Trasylol personal injury cases in Philadelphia County. It was confirmed at the conference that the cases will proceed in a uniform manner. The Court took under consideration Case Management Order No. 1 for Trasylol Personal Injury Cases, which governs, among other things, pleading issues (Master Complaints, Short Form Complaints, and Answers to Complaints), Service of Process, and Discovery of Plaintiffs and Defendants (Interrogatories, Request for Production of Documents, Fact Sheets and Expert Discovery). The Court was mindful of the federal court Trasylol litigation, which is discussed below, and it is anticipated that the federal and state Trasylol litigation will proceed at a similar pace.

There is also consolidated federal Trasylol litigation. Judge Donald Middlebrooks, judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida oversees the Trasylol Multi District Litigation (MDL). He served as General Counsel to the Governor of Florida from 1974 – 1977, and in 1997 was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as a United States District Judge. As schedule was set up in the Trasylol MDL, which anticipates most discovery being completed by February 27, 2009, generic experts being disclosed in March of 2009, and all discovery being completed by July 2009. It is contemplated that federal Trasylol trials will take place in early 2010.