LV man sues maker of diabetes drug Rezulin

Greg Tuttle

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 10:23 a.m.

A Las Vegas man has filed a federal lawsuit against a drug company for making a diabetes pill that he said caused his kidney to fail.

Tom Ketchum, 57, filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court seeking unspecified damages from Warner-Lambert Co. and its subsidiary, Parke-Davis. The New Jersey-based company is the maker of a drug called Rezulin, which has become the target of lawsuits nationwide since it was pulled from the shelves in March.

Ketchem's wife, Denise, is also seeking damages for loss of consortium. The couple declined to comment Thursday.

According to the lawsuit, Tom Ketchum suffers from adult-onset diabetes, a condition traditionally treated with insulin. About 14 million Americans have adult-onset, or type 2, diabetes, which impedes the body's ability to produce and use insulin.

Rezulin was introduced in 1997 after being approved on a "fast-track" by the Federal Drug Administration. Its maker said the drug would help diabetes patients whose body did not respond to insulin treatment. But earlier this year the FDA asked the company to voluntarily remove the drug from the market after its use was linked to 61 deaths. Warner-Lambert complied, and issued a statement on March 21 saying the company "continues to believe the benefits of the drug outweigh its associated risks."

Since then, at least nine class-action lawsuits and about as many individual lawsuits have been filed against the company for its Rezulin product. A hearing is scheduled this month to consider whether the cases should be consolidated, according to Ketchum's attorneys.

Ketchum began taking Rezulin in January 1999. Five months ago he was diagnosed with irreversible liver damage and other health problems that have left him "sick, sore, lame and disabled," he said in the lawsuit.

Ketchum said his condition is a result of taking Rezulin, and Warner-Lambert continued to sell and promote the drug "in conscious disregard of the forseeable harm."