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Jury Awards $25.16 Million on Claim Acne Drug Caused Bowel Illness

BY Henry Gottlieb
March 29, 2010

Lawyers suing Roche Laboratories Inc. had reason to be dismayed 14 months ago when a state appeals court threw out a $2.5 million jury verdict they had won for a man who blamed the acne drug Accutane for his bowel disease. But this February the lawyers won 10 times more at the retrial. An Atlantic County jury awarded $25.16 million to Andrew McCarrell of Birmingham, AL, after finding that Roche knew or should have known that Accutane caused inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and failed to warn prescribing physicians. It's the largest of five victories that Accutane users have won against the drug maker, including a $13 million verdict last November for three plaintiffs.

The Accutane Cases

McCarrell's claim was one of 791 on a list of Accutane cases assigned to a mass tort court in Atlantic City, and dozens more are pending around the country. One of the branches of the Swiss company is in Nutley, NJ. McCarrell, 38, took Accutane 15 years ago and developed chronic ulcerative colitis, which led to removal of his colon, and he has suffered further bowel problems that required further surgeries, according to evidence at the trial before Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee.

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