Nexium Attorney
Prevacid, Prilosec and Nexium Attorney
Prevacid, Nexium and Prilosec are part of a class of drugs known as “proton pump inhibitors” or PPIs. PPIs reduce the amount of acid in the stomach. They do this by chemically blocking proton pumps—structures in certain cells that secrete hydrogen to create stomach acid. Unfortunately, these can also cause pancreatic cancer.
Everyone’s experienced heartburn at some point in their lives to differing degrees. The acid burning up your throat, that pain in your chest, the sensation of food coming back up your throat, the uncomfortable pressure.
Recent evidence suggest that Prevacid, Prilosec and Nexium and other Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) can not only cause chronic kidney disease, but could cause stomach or pancreatic cancer. Have you developed stomach cancer or pancreatic cancer after taking Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid? Contact our lawyers today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
When it’s that time for you, swinging by the pharmacy and picking up some heartburn medication makes the most sense. Maybe Tums or Mylanta could be a quick fix. Or, you pick up one of the other PPIs on the market. What happens if you get it more than once in a week? Many individuals who experience heartburn at least twice a week usually need a low dose of these proton pump inhibitors daily to control the reflux of stomach acid.
Nexium, the heartburn drug can increase the risk of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The FDA updated the label on Nexium to include inflammation of kidneys and acute kidney injuries, in 2014.
Unfortunately, both serious side effects can lead to kidney failure, cancer, or even death.
An excess amount of acid in the stomach can lead to stomach ulcers and other painful conditions. Prevacid, Nexium or Prilosec reduces the acid in a person’s stomach and helps to heal ulcers and other acid-related damage.
Nexium and Prilosec are often referred to as mirror drugs because their chemical compounds are nearly identical. Nexium/Prilosec is called a proton pump inhibitor prescription drug that is used to treat acid reflux disease (i.e. heartburn). Prevacid prevents the production of acid that causes frequent heartburn.
PPI Injuries & Side Effects
Gastric cancer can develop anywhere in the stomach, from the lining of the entrance, to the bottom lining of the stomach.
When diagnosed early, and if gastric cancer is limited to the inner linings of the stomach, it is typically treatable by endoscopic mucosal resection, or by gastrectomy and lymphadenectomy, without the need for chemotherapy or radiation. However, as the cancer develops, it becomes more difficult to manage the symptoms.
Long Term Symptoms
By failing to provide proper warnings about the risk that side effects of Nexium, Prilosec or other PPI drugs including causing stomach cancer, the makers may have prevented many users from appropriate screenings that may have allowed the earlier treatment of the disease.
In December 2017, the medical journal Gut published a study that found that use of Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec and similar PPI drugs increased the chances of developing stomach or pancreatic cancer, with the risk increasing dramatically the longer the medications are used.
Overall, use of PPIs more than doubled the gastric cancer risk, while other types of heartburn drugs did not appear to have the same side effects as Prilosec, Prevacid, and Nexium.
Long-term use can create:
- One-year use: 5X higher risk;
- Over two years of use: 6.65X higher risk;
- 3 or more use: 8X higher risk
The drug makers knew or should have known about the potential stomach cancer side effects, yet continued to market the drugs without appropriate warnings, encouraging consumers to continue the use of the medications for long periods of time.
After failing to warn users about the potential risks, companies encouraged individuals stay on Nexium or other PPIs for many years, with little attempt to reduce the need for the medication.
However, if warnings of cancers had been provided, patients may have explored other heartburn treatment options, or sought out stomach cancer screening.
Millions of people purchased these drugs over-the-counter at their local drug store. It turns out, however, that these drugs have become increasingly associated with a range of dangerous and sometimes fatal side effects and long-term dependence. If subjected to any of these, contact a Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium attorney today.
Many patients on these drugs do not even have a need for this treatment.
Some of the serious potential side effects caused using Nexium, Prevacid or Prilosec:
- Bone fractures
- Itching, rashes and exfoliative dermatitis
- Kidney disease
- Renal failure
People who take multiple daily doses for a long period of time (a year or longer), especially those 50 years of age or older, have an increased risk of fractures of the hip, wrist, and spine. Patients who use these medications appear to have a higher risk of chronic kidney disease compared with those who don’t use them.
Chronic kidney disease or CKD is a permanent, life threatening condition where the kidneys slowly stop working.
Your kidneys are responsible for removing waste products from the body, including excess water. In CKD, they lose their ability to function over the course of several months, often with no symptoms until the kidneys have almost completely failed. There is no way to reverse CKD. It requires either dialysis (using a machine to filter the blood) or getting a kidney transplant. Without these interventions CKD leads to renal failure and death.
What can Lerner and Rowe’s PPI and Nexium Attorney Do for You?
Heartburn medications and PPIs, including Prevacid, Nexium, and Prilosec are facing more than 4,200 lawsuits after consumers faced various kidney diseases and cancers. We are representing individuals who have suffered kidney or renal injuries from using Nexium, Prevacid or Prilosec.
Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys will be seeking the following damages for on your behalf:
- Past and future medical expenses that result from your injuries.
- Pain and suffering (physical and mental) caused by the injuries, and the treatment and recovery process.
- Previous and future wage loss.
- Past and future loss of earning capacity.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
Plaintiffs in existing suits have alleged that the manufacturers of PPIs failed to appropriately warn health care providers and, subsequently, patients of the increased risks associated with long-term use of PPIs.
Anyone, even an otherwise healthy person, faces potential kidney complications from these drugs. Long term use is associated with greater risk. Doctors are now starting to limit the length of time a patient can be on Nexium, but there are many patients who have used it for years, the most likely to develop CKD.
Those who use it in higher doses, or twice a day rather than once a day, are at significantly higher risk of kidney problems.
The risk of bone fractures is greatest for patients who have used Prilosec or Nexium a year or more, and also, those over the age of 50.
Have you received a cancer diagnosis or kidney damage by taking a prescription or over-the-counter PPI? Contact the law offices of Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys. Our skilled attorneys will fight to get you the compensation that you deserve. So, contact a Nexium attorney today for your free consultation.