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A federal jury in Illinois found AbbVie Inc. liable for failing to warn of the risks of heart attacks from it’s popular AndroGel testosterone replacement products. Plaintiff Jeffrey Konrad was awarded $140,000.00 in damages for his injuries and the jury awarded an additional 1,000 times in punitive damages. The punitive damages equal $140 million.

The trial against DePuy involving 8 New York plaintiffs injured by DePuy Pinnacle hip implants has been postponed. The trial was set to occur today on September 5th, 2017 before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in the Northern District of Texas. Judge Kinkeade currently presides over 9,300 cases alleging DePuy’s Pinnacle hip implants are defective. DePuy has lost 2 prior jury trials in Judge Kinkeade’s courtroom, resulting in over $1.5 billion verdicts against DePuy for its defective him implant products.

On August 25th, 2017 Judge Ed Kinkeade of the District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, ordered the jury trial of eight plaintiffs to begin on September 5th, 2017.

A case report in the May edition of the medical journal Burns notes that failing lithium-ion batteries are responsible for the uptick in new cases of battery explosion burns. Batteries stored in e-cig or vape mod devices can suffer from a run-away chemical reaction and explode.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested Endo Pharmaceuticals pull Opana ER from the market. Opana ER is an extended-release opioid, or narcotic. The drug is heavily abused by patients and can lead to addictions, which can then lead to overdoses and death.

Last Friday a trial began in St. Louis for the families of three women who contracted ovarian cancer after use of talcum powder baby powder products. Johnson & Johnson and other companies marketed baby powder products containing talcum powder, despite knowing that baby powder increased their customer’s risk of ovarian cancer.

The FDA released a new communication today warnings of serious risks of Invokana – a prescription medicine for Type II Diabietes. The FDA warned that Invokana poses an increased risk of foot and leg amputations, based on studies showing the risk of amputation of limbs doubling with Invokano use versus a placebo. The FDA now requires its strongest form of warning – a Boxed Warning – be placed on all new Invokana (Canagliflozin) labels.

Another large verdict came down against Johnson & Johnson for hiding the ovarian cancer risks of baby powder and talcum powder products. A Jury in Missouri found Johnson & Johnson liable for $110 million for causing the cancer of a 61 year old woman.

After a series of accidents and injuries aboard Navy vessels, the Navy has announced it will stop allowing sailors to bring and use electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), personal vaporizers, and vape pens aboard it’s ships. The ban includes all submarines, aircraft, and boats.