Novartis AG, the Swiss based pharmaceutical company who is the developer of Tasigna, an oral chemotherapy drug designed to treat Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, has been hit with another lawsuit over its failure to warn users of the product about the risk of developing arteriosclerosis issues. Arteriosclerosis is a condition which causes the arteries in the heart to harden and narrow. Tasigna belongs to a section of drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (or TKI’s). These types of medications work to interfere with the growth of a protein that causes the body to create abnormal white cells.
A man from Vancouver, Washington recently filed a claim in February of this year against the company after he suffered a stroke at age 66. The man previously had no heart related issues prior to taking the drug, and said that his condition developed rapidly after arteriosclerosis occurred in his cartoid arteries (arteries that deliver blood to the brain and head). He also claimed that he had only been using the drug for a short period of time.
This is not the first time Novartis AG has experienced a lawsuit over the side effects of Tasigna. According in 2016 a wrongful death suit was filed by a family in California after a man died in 2014 from complications from arteriosclerosis, that began after he started taking the drug in 2012. Arteriosclerosis can also lead to additional problems such as:
Coronary Heart Disease
Angina (a type of chest pain causing reduced blood flow to the heart)
Amputations
Heart Attacks
Stroke
Death
