Texas man claims defective drug caused his cancer
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011A Texas psoriasis sufferer who alleges he developed lymphoma while taking Raptiva, has sued Roche Holding AG’s Genentech Inc.
Roche stopped selling the the drug in 2009 when studies linked it to a fatal brain infection.
Now, Houston-area psoriasis patient Cary Massa, 51, has been diagnosed with classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma after taking Raptiva from February 2006 to January 2008.
“Despite knowing that Raptiva posed the risk of serious injuries for anyone who took the drug, defendants pushed Raptiva to market on unfounded claims of efficacy and safety while downplaying altogether and denying the drug’s life-threatening risks,’’ an attorney said in the filing.
The suit also accuses the company of failure to warn, product liability, breach of warranty, fraud by concealment and gross negligence.
