Novartis Tasigna Anti-Cancer Drug Has Side Effects That Include Sudden Death

Novartis salespeople used illegal marketing tactics to hide the deadly side effects of Tasigna that may have cost hundreds of people their lives

Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - Up until recently, oncologists treated patients that have Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with Gleevec, a revolutionary and highly effective anti-cancer drug manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis. CML is a painful, slowly-progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Bone marrow is comprised of soft tissue inside of the bones that makes blood cells. The bone marrow of people with Ph+CML improperly formed white blood cells and many more than white blood cells than is necessary because the person possesses an abnormal Philadelphia chromosome. The disease affects around 6000 people in the United States every year and the average age is 65 years old. All that it takes to discover if a person has Ph+CML is a routine blood test that comes back with an excess of white blood cells. While no other symptoms need to be present, however, most patients with CML report feeling exhausted, bruising easily, blood that will not clot, unexplainable weight loss and severe bone and joint pain.

Novartis was well aware that when anti-cancer drug Gleevec went off-patent, competition would arise from generic drug manufacturers charging as little as 10% of the price of Gleevec for basically the same cancer medication. Novartis' response was to head off this competition by producing Tasigna, a much more potent form of Gleevec, and marketing it to specialty pharmacists encouraging them to replace Gleevec with Tasigna before the generic brands could gain a foothold on their market. In their desperation to preserve their share of the multi-billion dollar cancer treatment market, Novartis marketing representatives used unethical and illegal tactics and sales promotions, and at times outright lied about the effectiveness of Tasigna in order to incentivize pharmacists to make the switch. Novartis sales representative bribed pharmacists to replace Gleevec prescriptions with Tasigna without the patient's consent, by offering pharmacists financial incentives and monetary kickbacks.

The switch to Tasigna did not go unnoticed, however, as patients switching to Tasigna started to report the life-threatening side effect of atherosclerosis. Tasigna patients were starting to experience a thickening and narrowing of the major arteries in the leg and the arteries leading to the brain and heart. As a result of the reduced blood flow, necrosis often set in requiring the amputation of toes, feet and sometimes a whole leg. Tasigna atherosclerosis patients also reported having paralyzing strokes. Worst of all, Tasigna patients with pre-existing heart conditions were prone to have heart attacks after taking Tasigna resulting in sudden death.

Due to the negligence of Novartis and their marketing representatives, Tasigna atherosclerosis patients are hiring a Tasigna atherosclerosis lawyer and suing the company for their negligence in failing to properly test Tasigna before rushing it to market, for overstating the drug's effectiveness, and for failing to warn cancer patients of the drug's atherosclerosis side effects before prescribing it to them. The US Department of Justice also sued Novartis for their false and misleading promises and illicit marketing tactics for 3.3 billion dollars and settled of which Novartis settled for paying $390 million dollars.

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Lawyers for Tasigna Atherosclerosis Lawsuits

Attorneys handling Tasigna lawsuits for leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma offer free, no-obligation case review for individuals and families who believe they may have grounds to file a Tasigna lawsuit. Working on a contingency basis, these attorneys are committed to never charging legal fees unless they win compensation in your Tasigna lawsuit. The product liability litigators handling Roundup claims at the Onder Law Firm have a strong track record of success in representing families harmed by dangerous drugs and consumer products.