Two women filed lawsuits against manufacturers of Elmiron, the only oral medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat interstitial cystitis, also known as painful bladder syndrome.
The Elmiron lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Teva, allege that the drug manufacturers knowingly withheld information about harm caused by long-term use of Elmiron such as blurred and distorted vision and retinal damage. Pigmentary maculopathy, also known as pentosan polysulfate sodium maculopathy, is a unique type of retinal damage associated with long-term use of Elmiron according to a 2018 case study of six patients and a larger 2019 study of 219 patients.
The women are seeking compensation for pain and suffering, mental anguish, anxiety, physical impairment, and medical expenses.
Each of the manufacturers is accused of multiple civil wrongs including failure to warn consumers of Elmiron’s risk, negligence, designing Elmiron in a way that makes the drug defective and hazardous to health, and fraudulent misrepresentation of the risks associated with Elmiron.
