The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

Pharmaceutical companies have a duty to the public: take all possible steps to ensure the safety of their products, and take action in case of any question.

Pfizer Inc. recently discontinued a phase III liver cancer study of a drug, Sutent, owing to safety issues. It was reported that patients using the medicine suffered a high incidence of serious adverse effects.

"The disappointing outcome of this trial challenges all of us to work harder to understand the complex biology of this disease," Mace Rothenburg, head of clinical development for Pfizer’s oncology unit, said in a statement.

In March, Pfizer reported disappointing results from two phase III studies of Sutent for use with advanced breast cancer. The drug is already approved for treatment of advanced kidney cancer, and had world sales of $964 million in 2009. Pfizer is testing the drug against a wide range of cancers.

Defective products of any kind are of concern to the public, and by one estimate injure more than 1 million Americans a year. However, the possible damage caused by a pharmaceutical injury is of particular concern in our age, when so many drugs are prescribed. The average citizen is hardly able to decide independently whether a drug is safe, and severe personal injury can result from a faulty drug.

At The Cochran Firm, our product liability attorneys are determined to take every step in protecting our clients. If you think that you may have sustained injury from a defective pharmaceutical product, we invite you to contact us for a free consultation at any of our nationwide offices.

Labels: main

Slip and fall accidents are common occurrences that take place frequently, usually as a result of unsafe conditions or negligent maintenance on someone else’s property and are known in the legal community as premises liability cases.

Slip and fall injuries can be negligible, but are often severe, resulting in great pain and suffering for the victim, requiring substantial medical care and treatment, the loss of the ability to work and the possibility of confronting a permanent disability.

Slip and fall accidents are responsible for over sixteen thousand deaths annually in those over sixty-five years old. Slip and fall accidents can be the result of a slippery floor in a restaurant, a poorly lit stairway in a parking garage or a cracked walkway outside a department store or shopping mall.

The experienced slip and fall attorneys at The Cochran Firm have been protecting the legal rights of seriously injured slip and fall accident victims throughout the state of Alabama for many years and have recovered substantial settlements for our injured clients.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident on someone else’s property, you may be eligible to receive financial compensation for the injuries you have suffered for medical expenses, lost wages, long term medical care and rehabilitation and any other expenses incurred as a result of your injury.

Please contact the slip and fall accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm today if you reside in the Birmingham, Alabama area and have been injured on someone else’s property to protect your legal rights and learn how to receive compensation for your injuries.

Labels: Birmingham

Trains are an economically effective means of moving goods, including hazardous materials, across the country. In the event of a derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials, a spill could cause a catastrophe to a community, people and the surrounding environment.

Startling statistics reveal there is a train derailment or collision every ninety minutes somewhere in the United States., and there are approximately three thousand train accidents annually causing one thousand deaths.

Common types of train accidents include collisions with another train, derailments, collisions with other types of vehicles, mechanical failures, inadequately maintained tracks and equipment, and operator negligence. Injuries sustained in a train accident are usually devastating and may include spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries, amputation of limbs, severe burns, multiple broken bones and deaths.

The train accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm have been protecting the rights of train accident victims throughout the Sacramento, California area for years. We are aggressive in our efforts to ensure a successful outcome for your case by investigating and evaluating every detail of the incident to determine where the legal responsibility for your accident lies.

If you were injured in a train accident in the Sacramento, California area, please contact the experienced train accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to schedule a consultation and set a plan of action into motion to get you the financial compensation you deserve.

Labels: Sacramento

Police brutality or misconduct is a grave civil rights violation. You may feel powerless when confronted with police brutality, but you have the right to seek financial compensation and justice for your injuries and hold the offending police officer accountable for actions that tarnish fellow police officers as well.

Police brutality is the unlawful use of excessive force, threats, physical and verbal abuse, unjustified shootings, choking, fatal beatings, misuse of pepper spray or stun guns, sexual assault, racial profiling, false arrest, corruption and bribes.

Most police officers do serve and protect the citizens of their communities to the best of their ability, while some officers abuse their power. In some cases physical force is justified in order to restrain a suspect or to protect the police officers and others from serious bodily harm, but there are instances when some police officers cross the line and abuse their authority.

The police brutality attorneys at The Cochran Firm are committed to providing effective legal representation to those who have been victims of unlawful police actions. The police brutality attorneys at the Cochran Firm have a proud tradition of civil rights advocacy and will address police brutality wherever and whenever it occurs.

If you or someone you care about has been the victim of police misconduct or brutality, please contact the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania location of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential consultation with our police brutality attorneys to protect your legal rights.

Labels: Philadelphia

The FDA has recently issued a warning letter to Pfizer, informing them that they are not properly monitoring physicians testing an experimental medication. Pfizer has experienced problems with their testing protocol since 2006, resulting in overdoses for more than two dozen patients participating in the trial.

According to a Pfizer spokeswoman, the drug being studied is called Geodon. It is being tested for use with children who have bipolar disorder.

In 2006, 26 patients participating in clinical trials of the drug received an overdose. Three more patients overdosed in 2007. When the FDA inspected Pfizer's testing in July 2009, they found the pharmaceutical company was still not following its own safety guidelines for the testing of this drug. In particular, clinical investigators were not being made aware of new dosing issues that would arise.

Pfizer responded to the 2009 FDA complaint, but according to the FDA's most recent warning letter, the pharmaceutical company did not clearly outline the steps they would take to prevent future problems during clinical testing. Pfizer has 15 business days to submit a plan for correcting these problems to the FDA.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured as a result of taking a dangerous drug, you may be entitled to receive compensation for your damages. The experienced defective drug attorneys at The Cochran Firm have the resources and experience needed to take on pharmaceutical companies who sacrifice the safety of patients in favor of increased profits.

Please contact our defective drug attorneys today to schedule your free initial consultation. The Cochran Firm serves clients nationwide.

Labels: main

Low speed rear end collisions usually result in minor damage to the vehicles involved, but can still result in serious bodily injury to the occupants. There are over two and one-half million rear end collisions reported annually across the United States making them the most frequent type of car accident.

Modern automobile design has improved the safety of cars involved in this type of collision so that the bumper systems usually absorb most of the force of a low speed impact, but there are times when the human bodies in the automobile absorb most of the impact instead. The result in some rear end collisions is that the occupants of the automobile may suffer a "whiplash" injury, which is caused by a sudden, violent, involuntary whipping back and forth motion of the head and neck.

Whiplash injuries consist of trauma to the soft tissues of the muscles and ligaments of the neck and can result in intense pain, swelling, stiffness, headache, nausea, numbness of the extremities and dizziness. The symptoms of a whiplash injury are not always present immediately after the collision, but may present themselves twenty-four to forty-eight hours later. Failure to seek medical attention for this type of injury can lead to months and years of debilitating pain and disability.

The automobile accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm have many years of experience in handling rear end collision car accidents and feel you deserve to be financially compensated for your pain and suffering, medical expenses, lost income and any other costs incurred due to your injuries.

Please contact the rear end collision attorneys at The Cochran Firm today if you were injured in an accident in the Tuskegee, Alabama area today to protect your legal rights and obtain the compensation you deserve.

Labels: Tuskegee

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), millions of Americans are involved in automobile accidents every year in the United States and these automobile accidents are the leading cause of catastrophic injuries and death for those aged three to thirty-three. Those sixty-five and older are another high risk group for injuries and deaths caused by automobile accidents.

The most common causes of automobile accidents involved driver error, mechanical failure, hazardous road conditions and dangerous weather conditions. Driver error encompasses driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, including prescription medications, speeding, texting and cell phone use while driving, and aggressive driving behaviors such as tailgating. Mechanical failures have been the focus of millions of recalled vehicles recently and have included malfunctioning gas pedals, brakes, defective tires and electronic systems.

The experienced automobile accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm employ experts in the forensic sciences and medicine when litigating accident claims for our clients, along with accident reconstruction specialists to ensure our clients have the best legal representation possible to prove liability and maximize financial compensation.

If you live in New Orleans, Louisiana or the surrounding area and have been involved in an automobile accident, please contact the experienced automobile accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to learn how to proceed with your claim and get the financial compensation you deserve.

Labels: New Orleans