Drugs which are intended to treat diseases and relieve sufferings are paradoxically being targeted with endless barrage of lawsuits, implicated in causing harms, injuries and suffering.

In the highly litigatious society like USA, more than 65,000 product liability lawsuits have been filed against prescription drugmakers since 2000; and Merck's painkiller Vioxx alone faces 14,000 lawsuits. Making drug industry the worst record holder in the number of lawsuits faced.

The table below shows the number of lawsuits faced by various industries in recent years, pharmaceutical industry is indisputably the biggest target.

The figures raise a fundamental question whether drugmakers and the FDA  have done enough to ensure patient safety.

Settlement costs have also been astronomical. Last year, Eli Lilly set aside US$1 billion charge to settle about 10,500 lawsuits against its anti-psychotic Zyprexa. This raises yet another concern in the highly competitive and tightly regulated industry; the impact of legal costs not only eat into research funds but change consumer behaviours. It’s tough working as healthcare provider in US, but life is no easier either as defence lawyer working for drug companies nowadays!

Adapted from:  USATODAY.com