HERSH & HERSH FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST VALEANT FOR BRAIN INJURY SUSTAINED BY PLAINTIFF DURING HEPATITIS C TRIAL

Product liability law firm Hersh & Hersh has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of plaintiff Linda Iacovetta against Valeant, a Southern California drug company, and California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) in San Francisco.

Hersh & Hersh attorneys claim that as a result of participating in Valeant's clinical trial to test the effects of the combination of viramidine and pegylated interferon for treating hepatitis C, Iacovetta developed brain damage and has become permanently disabled.

CPMC physicians who conducted the clinical trials are denying they were agents of Valeant and are not culpable under product liability law.

The San Francisco medical lawsuit ties into the recent barrage of high-profile drug controversies ignited by the stunning discovery that Vioxx (rofecoxib), Celebrex (celecoxib) and even Aleve (naproxen sodium) are now known to cause heart attacks and strokes. Drug companies have come under fire for over-marketing their products to doctors while withholding negative findings of their for-profit clinical trials to the FDA, and for paying doctors large sums of money to enlist their patients in these studies, according to the law firm.