Product Liability refers to the legal liability of manufacturers and sellers to compensate for an injury or a damage resulting from a defective medication or goods purchased by the patient.

EpiConsults, Inc. had the privilege to work in different product liability cases. Product Liabiblity includes pharmaceutical products and defective products, most of which have been taken off the U.S. and the Canadian market by the FDA after serious adverse drug or device reactions were reported to the FDA. Law suits are being filed constantly in various U.S. and Canadian courts of justice allegedly claiming that pharmaceutical companies outweighed benefits over risks. Financial gains were substantial in the amount of billions of dollars forcing the manufacturers to increase their advertising campaigns and to ignore various health risks.

Health risks include Valvular Heart Disease, Pulmunary Hypertension as in the case with Fenfluramine and Phentermine also known as the combination cocktail of Fen-Phen. Arrythmias and Torsade de Points in the case of Propulsid, Liver Failure with Rezulin, Lamisil and Sporanox, Stroke and increased blood pressure with PPA and Ephedra, Rhabdomyolysis with Baycol among others.

Fen-Phen is probably the most popular example of product liability ever brought to justice in the U.S.and Canada. The Food and Drug Administration, acted on evidence about significant side-effects associated with Fenfluramine and Dexfenfluramine, has asked the manufacturers to voluntarily withdraw both treatments for obesity from the market in Sept of 1997. Dexfenfluramine is manufactured for Interneuron Pharmaceuticals and marketed under the name of Redux by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a subsidiary of American Home Products Corp. of Madison, N.J., which also manufactures and markets fenfluramine under the brand name Pondimin. Both companies have agreed to voluntarily withdraw their drugs. The FDA is not requesting the withdrawal of phentermine, the third widely used medication for obesity.

The list of products includes but not limited to Fen-Phen, Propulsid, Rezulin, PPA, Lamisil, Sporanox, Baycol, Celebrex, Vioxx, and Oxycontin, Sulzer hip and knee replacements, etc.