Elmiron Eye Damage Patients Seek Millions From Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson

The company failed to warn patients of the vision damage that could occur if they took the interstitial cystitis drug

Wednesday, February 23, 2022 - The number of Elmiron eye lawsuits against Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson has ballooned to more than 500 as of the latest count. Elmiron's (pentosan polysulfate sodium) primary side effect is a type of eye damage called pigmentary maculopathy. This condition results in the inability to see at night or clearly during the day. Elmiron eye damage victims are mostly women who have been prescribed by doctors to take the drug to attempt to alleviate a painful bladder condition known as interstitial cystitis (IC). IC sufferers are in constant, debilitating pain and can not control their bladder thus having to urinate as many as twenty to thirty times per day. Lawsuits range in the one to ten million dollar amount to compensate for loss of income, self-esteem, and the ability to enjoy life, and other damages. Many professions and occupations require perfect vision and vision damage can destroy a career. One of the most recent lawsuits was filed on behalf of Beverly Frizzell, a New Hampshire woman whose devastating injuries she blames on taking Elmiron. "Beverly Frizzell's injuries were "preventable and resulted directly from [Janssen's] failure and refusal to conduct proper safety studies, failure to properly assess and publicize safety signals, suppression of information revealing serious risks, willful and wanton failure to provide adequate instructions, and willful misrepresentations concerning the nature and safety of Elmiron," the lawsuit states," according to MedTruth.com. The $10 million Frizzell lawsuit will join the others in multidistrict litigation (MDL) in New Jersey Federal court. In late 2021, Gloria Granberg sued Janssen Pharmaceuticals in a similar failure to warn lawsuit.

In 1996, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Elmiron and since then it has remained the only drug that doctors recommend to treat IC. Elmiron patients take three doses per day, every day, for their entire life. The drug takes up to 6 months to build up to levels in the blood to have any effect. For more than 20 years the company failed to warn women about the vision damage side effects. In July of 2020, the company updated its website. OrthoElmiron.com, the official Elmiron website, now warns about the drug's eye damage side effects. patients are advised to see an eye doctor before starting Elmiron treatment to establish a baseline to compare year over year watching for maculopathy. Elmiron patients started to complain about eyesight damage from taking Elmiron early on prompting medical researchers to study the effects it might be having. One study from the Emory Eye Center found that most women taking Elmiron had progressively deteriorating ability to read under normal lighting conditions and pigmentary maculopathy. Other studies have found that eyesight damage continues to progress even if the patient stops taking it and the longer and greater the dose of Elmiron, the more severe the eye damage. Patients today are warned not to exceed the recommended dosage even if Elmiron pain persists.

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