Las Vegans to sue Bayer over drug

Grace Leong

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

A Las Vegas attorney says he has about 150 local clients preparing to sue German drugmaker Bayer AG over the cholesterol-reducing drug Baycol, which has been linked to more than 53 deaths worldwide.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Bayer nationwide since Baycol was withdrawn on Aug. 8 following reports of 31 suspected Baycol-related deaths in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration ordered the recall after more than 480 Baycol users developed Rhabdomyolysis, a potentially life-threatening condition, allegedly after being prescribed the drug.

Rhabdomyolysis occurs when a large number of skeletal muscle cells die, which results in the release of a massive amount of muscle protein or myoglobin into the bloodstream. If there's sufficient concentrations of myoglobin in the blood, it could lead to kidney failure, and potentially, death.

Las Vegas-area resident Cinda Reed sued Bayer AG, its U.S. subsidiary, Bayer Corp. and former Baycol co-distributor GlaxoSmithKline in U.S. District Court on Thursday, alleging Bayer failed to properly test Baycol for side effects and failed to warn the public about the need for regular medical monitoring to ensure the early discovery of potentially fatal muscle and kidney damage. Will Kemp, Reed's attorney, said he has another 150 clients to date who also plan to sue Bayer.

He said about 70,000 people in Clark County, most of whom are believed to be in their fifties and sixties, have taken the drug. He said his firm is currently investigating two suspected Baycol-related deaths in Nevada.

Reed, whom Kemp said is in her fifties, is seeking punitive damages because he claims Bayer "acted with intentional and reckless indifference to (her) safety and well being by misleading the public and the medical community about the alleged safety of the drug."

Kemp said it's hard to determine the extent of damages at this stage.

"We have to get a lot of medical records and also have our clients go through medical tests. Since the damage is deep in the muscle, we're talking about doing biopsies to determine the extent of muscle damage. But since they stopped taking the drug only in August, we don't want to do any invasive tests until the symptoms are clearer."

Bayer Corp. declined comment on Reed's lawsuit. But Bayer AG's Chairman, Dr. Manfred Schneider, addressed several similar Baycol-related lawsuits in a statement to Bayer stockholders in August.

"Although fatalities have reportedly occurred among patients who have been taking the drug, a causal connection has not been proven," he said. "What is more, we had included warnings in package leaflets and physicians' prescribing information regarding contraindications and the possible risks of commencing therapy with the highest dosage."

"Bayer has at all times acted responsibly and in the interests of patient health and safety. We therefore consider these claims to be unfounded and will vigorously contest them." Kemp said his clients won't be seeking class action because there's no guarantee a class will be certified and because it's difficult to show that all his clients "are in the same situation" in personal injury cases.

"Traditionally, we can't file a class action for personal injury cases," Kemp said. "Typically when we file class action suits, we have to show everyone is in the same situation. But in personal injury cases, people are injured in different ways. For example, client A could have different injuries, a different medical background and could be taking the drug in different dosages from Client B."

But Kemp said he is filing a motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel for Multi-District Litigation (MDL), based in Washington D.C., for the transfer and consolidation of all lawsuits filed against Bayer.

The seven-member panel will hear arguments on Nov. 29 in New Orleans to decide whether to consolidate the lawsuits, which federal judge will hear the cases and where it will be heard.

"We've filed just this one case so far to be part of the MDL case. The plan is for all the cases filed in federal courts nationwide to be consolidated for pre-trial purposes before the MDL. Once discovery is done, all the cases will be returned to the various courts where they've been filed for trial," Kemp said. "It's preferable for discovery and depositions to be analysed by one judge so he can adopt uniform procedures rather than have all the judges reinvent the wheel."