Impaired Vision Triggers Federal Lawsuits

If you have experienced chronic bladder pain and frequent urination, your medical doctor might have prescribed Elmiron to treat it. Elmiron is an anticoagulant that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996 approved as a treatment for interstitial cystitis.

More commonly referred to as IC, interstitial cystitis can cause severe pain and generally affects women more than men. Elmiron and similar drugs can help to alleviate the pain and enable people to resume their normal lives. There is no known cure for IC, but drugs like Elmiron are designed to control it so that those afflicted can lead normal lives.

Unfortunately, many patients who take Elmiron suffer from ill effects on their vision and say the drug is the cause. The drug now comes with a warning label that cautions users regarding the potentially harmful side effects, which could include permanent eye injury.

Impaired Vision Triggers Federal Lawsuits

When a drug like Elmiron is prescribed to treat an ailment like IC that has no known cure, the prescription essentially becomes one that lasts the rest of the patient’s lifetime. Yet, over time, the drug could lead to complications that greatly affect the patient’s health.

In the case of Elmiron, many people say their vision has become permanently impaired. Macular degeneration is one of the many possible side effects that make Elmiron potentially harmful for those who take it to control IC.

Elmiron maker Janssen Pharmaceuticals often is the plaintiff cited as the primary defendant in the cases. You can refer to this article to better understand why plaintiffs in hundreds of class action lawsuits say Janssen Pharmaceuticals is responsible for causing significant vision impairment.

Federal Class Actions Seek Compensation for Vision Problems

The use of Elmiron and its side effects has triggered hundreds of class action lawsuits filed by those who were prescribed the drug to treat their bladder pain. A class action could be filed in virtually any federal court and always is handled at the federal level.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Although the drug has been approved for use since 1996, Janssen Pharmaceuticals neglected to post a warning label for nearly a quarter of a century. The first warning label appeared in 2020 and warned users that the drug might have a negative effect on their vision.

With more than two decades of potential harm caused by taking Elmiron before a warning label was created, many people might have used the drug for decades without realizing it was affecting their vision. A significant decline in vision greatly affects the quality of life and means many patients unknowingly traded bladder pain for decreased vision.

It is safe to say a lot of people would not have used Elmiron to address bladder pain if they knew that taking it might result in degraded vision. Yet, that is what happened when the warning label was not used for many years despite complaints of harm suffered by long-term users. Instead of using Elmiron, many others likely would have sought alternative treatment and medication to take care of the IC.