Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a law firm with extensive experience prosecuting negligence cases against the pharmaceutical industry, has filed a series of lawsuits against Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMC), a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE: FMS), the largest hemodialysis company in the world, alleging the company failed to inform patients, the medical community or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of serious, life-threatening complications resulting from the use of its GranuFlo and NaturaLyte products in dialysis patients.

The plaintiffs in the suits claim that FMC’s products caused them to suffer heart attacks, strokes and brain aneurysms, risks the company was aware of far in advance of informing the FDA.

Steve W. Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and the attorney representing more than 30 alleged victims, expressed outrage at FMC’s behavior. 

“We have an internal memo dated November 4, 2011 that shows FMC knew their products put patients at a much higher risk of catastrophic events including stroke, cardiac arrest and other life-threatening complications,” said Berman. “We intend to prove that rather than informing the FDA and seeking guidance, the company continued to aggressively market products it knew would put thousands of dialysis patients at risk.”

The memo also included instructions for FMC clinics designed to reduce the risk of life-threatening complications.

“We know that FMC thought the risks associated with its products were very serious, because it provided very clear advice to its own clinics on how to mitigate the issues,” said Mr. Berman. “In a stunning failure, however, FMC did not pass the word along to its other customers, a move that may have been good for short-term profits but risked thousands of patients’ lives.”

The FDA obtained a copy of the November 2011, internal memo and ordered a Class 1 recall, the most urgent type, of FMC’s GranuFlo product on March 29, 2012.

The filed lawsuits allege that FMC is guilty of negligence for continuing to promote and market GranuFlo and NaturaLyte and asks the court to award damages to the plaintiffs.

Hagens Berman is continuing to investigate the facts in this matter and encourages individuals who suffered from serious complications after receiving GranuFlo or NaturaLyte treatment to contact the firm. An attorney can be reached for a consultation by calling 206-623-7292 or by emailing [email protected].

More information is available here.

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About Hagens Berman
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law firm with offices in ten cities. The firm has been named to the National Law Journal’s Plaintiffs’ Hot List eight times. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.

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