Product liability lawsuits against generic valsartan manufacturers continue to file in at an alarmingly rapid rate as more patients seek compensation for useless drugs, medical monitoring, and serious injuries caused by impure valsartan. One lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey alleges that valsartan patient James Moss’s liver cancer was caused by his recalled valsartan drugs.
Filed on June 20, Moss’s complaint lists the following valsartan manufacturers as defendants:
- Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical, Co.
- Prinston Pharmacetuical
- Solco Healthcare
- Walgreens Boots Alliance.
In the claim Moss states that to treat his high blood pressure he began taking VCDS, or generic valsartan-containing drugs, in 2016. He continued to do so until the FDA released notice that generic valsartan may be tainted with cancer-causing drug impurities in July of 2018; Moss stopped taking the medication after hearing of the recall. These cancer-causing chemicals include Nitroso-dimethylamine (NDMA) and N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), both of which have been found at unusually high levels in batches of generic valsartan since as early as 2014.
Moss claims that months before the FDA released their notice of the recall, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, known as recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma, in February of the same year. Due to the diagnosis, Moss needed to undergo surgeries in May and October of 2018 and still needs a liver transplant. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that the defendants knew for years about the harmful qualities of the chemical byproducts created by their manufacturing process and did nothing to adequately warn or inform the public of the risks of taking tainted valsartan.
“Plaintiff James Moss would not have consented to taking the [valsartan] at issue, had he known of or been fully and adequately informed by Defendants of the true increased risks and serious dangers of taking the drugs, which were rendered unreasonably dangerous by the presence of NDMA, NDEA, or other nitrosamines,” the lawsuit says.
Moss’s lawsuit is part of the Valsartan NDMA Products Liability Litigation consolidated in the District of New Jersey before the Honorable Robert B. Kugler. Many of the lawsuits within this litigation are seeking financial compensation to reimburse patients for the cost of impure, worthless drugs and for possible necessary medical monitoring.