Illinois Dangerous Drug Attorney

When Can Prescription Drugs Become Dangerous?

How can a drug that has been evaluated and determined safe by the FDA be considered dangerous? Among the ways that you could potentially be exposed to the dangerous side effects of a medication include:

• Assumed risk:Prior to being put into hospitals or placed on pharmacy store shelves, all substances marketed as medications are required to undergo rigorous clinical testing. It’s in these tests that the side effects of drugs are most often discovered. Once a potential side effect is known, the FDA requires that the drug manufacturer include it on a warning label on the drug bottle or packaging. This ensures that you, as a potential user, have all of the information needed to make an informed decision regarding whether or not you will take it. Often, you and your doctor may determine that your risks for experiencing side effects is relatively low, and thus worth assuming given the potential benefit.
• Unknown dangers:There are certain scenarios where a potentially dangerous side effect may go undiscovered during drug testing, only to later come to light after having been approved for use. There’s also the possibility of a small volume of the drug becoming tainted during the packaging process. If and when this is discovered, the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the drug is expected to pull it from the market.
• “Off label” use:It’s important to remember that while drug makers are in the business of saving lives, they are still large corporations whose top priorities are the same as those of companies in other industries: to make money. Thus, they may try to market a drug for uses other than those approved by the FDA. This “off label” use can open the drug manufacturers who do this to liability, as the potential side effects of such use are unknown.