Big drug companies are nothing new to Somerset County and the rest of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is known as a pharmaceutical hub as it is home to many big drug company headquarters. Accordingly, a significant number of Pennsylvania residents work in the pharmaceutical industry.
The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable industries in existence and its profits reportedly continue to increase. Unfortunately, the industry appears to have gone from a focus on preventing and curing illness and disease to prioritizing profit margins over treating people. Somerset County pharmaceutical cases attorneys know that as dangerous drug recalls are on the rise, so are injuries caused by dangerous drugs.
Pharmaceutical operations
In an effort to continually increase profit margins, drug companies work to turn out drugs quickly while drug studies and testing are often not as thorough and detailed as they should be. Drug representatives meet with doctors to give them drug presentations and offer them incentives including meals and gifts. It seems as though these operations focus on benefits for medical professionals and drug makers without much emphasis on what is best for patients and their drug safety.
Dangerous pharmaceutical practices
Often risks and side effects of drugs are not clearly described by the drug company and medical professionals may not communicate those risks to their patients prior to prescribing. When drugs are not thoroughly tested, patients may be exposed to dangers for long periods of time before damaging effects are known and drugs are recalled. And when medical professionals are offered previously mentioned incentives, they may feel pressure to prescribe these drugs when they might otherwise not prescribe them.
Furthermore, a huge cause of concern in Pennsylvania and across the country is prescription pain medicine addiction. Although these drugs are regulated, they are still being prescribed or otherwise getting into the hands of addicts who are suffering serious harm and death. In fact, accidental poisoning is the number one cause of unintentional deaths in adults and that is driven by accidental pain medicine overdose.
Common dangerous drug side effects
As mentioned above, often due to scant testing and research prior to releasing a drug, people may take drugs that are unknowingly harming them for long periods of time before drugs are recalled and discontinued. Dangerous drugs can cause any number of harmful side effects and some of the most common are listed below.
- Heart Attack
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Hypoglycemia
- Cancer
- Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts
- Liver damage
- Kidney damage
- Osteonecrosis
- Birth defects
- Death
