Elmiron Vision Damage May Show Up Years After One Stops Taking The Drug
New information points to vision damage beginning years later when an ex-Elmiron patient thought they were in the clear
Friday, July 9, 2021 - New information is coming out every month from women that have developed eyesight damage allegedly using Elmiron (pentosan polysulfate) the only bladder pain medicine on the market, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals. At first, women that were prescribed Elmiron complained of developing maculopathy and macular degeneration, a form of night blindness. People with this condition experience difficulty reading in sub-optimal lighting conditions and can not drive at night. Next, women were aghast to learn that even if they stopped taking Elmiron, their eyesight damage might continue to worsen for the remainder of their lives making their condition best described as permanent, progressive, and irreversible. What we are now finding out is that women who do not currently have eyesight damage and discontinue using Elmiron may develop maculopathy and macular degenerations years down the road. Every woman who is taking or has taken Elmiron should see an independent ophthalmologist familiar with the retinal signature left by Elmiron, and periodically thereafter to evaluate and monitor the progress of their disease. This latest revelation is enough to scare millions of women who are taking Elmiron to seek the guidance of an Elmiron vision damage attorney to try and make sense of their legal options to sue Janssen and Johnson and Johnson for monetary compensation. Visit Elmiron eye lawsuits to learn more.
In a report published earlier in the year titled: "Can Vision Damage Develop Years After Stopping Elmiron?" New York Legal Examiner asks this question. The article focuses on a report by doctors at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta that wrote in the Retinal Cases & Briefs Report that there was "Potential new-onset clinically detectable pentosan polysulfate maculopathy years after drug cessation." A 44-year old woman reportedly developed the first signs of maculopathy and macular degeneration 38-months after stopping taking Elmiron pentosan polysulfate (PPS). The study concluded, "This case suggests that new-onset clinically detectable pentosan polysulfate maculopathy may develop years after drug cessation. If corroborated, this finding has important ramifications for PPS dosing and surveillance guidelines."
The makers of Elmiron, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson, are accused of negligence and fraud for failing to warn consumers of the potential for vision damage from taking the drug, the information they knew or could have reasonably be expected to have known. Cases from around the country have been organized into multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the United States District Court of New Jersey and presided over by the honorable judge Brian R. Martinotti, U.S.D.J. An attorney pool has been selected to reflect the mostly female plaintiffs to form the Elmiron MDL leadership team. The reason for the unique selection by Judge Martinotti was, as reported by Verusllc.com, "the condition for which Elmiron was prescribed, interstitial cystitis, disproportionately affects women. 70% of the proposed leadership are women, and the plaintiffs‘ counsel who offered the proposal described the team as having significant diversity in gender, ethnicity, geography, and experience."
