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PPA HEMORRHAGIC STROKE CLAIM LAWYERS

PPA Personal Injury Lawyers

Cincinnati, Ohio

The drug PPA or phenylpropanolamine has been used in over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for nasal congestion and weight loss for over 50 years. However, since the year 2000, this drug is being phased out by FDA request. Based on studies at Yale University School of Medicine, PPA use has been linked to a higher than expected risk of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain).

The population most at risk is women from late teens up to 50 years old. Yale researchers looked into this unusual incidence of strokes because of the atypical victims: young and otherwise healthy women. They discovered that a large percentage of patients had used OTC drugs containing PPA close to the time of their stroke.

The risk of PPA-initiated stroke is low, but FDA considered that risk enough of a health threat to recommend PPA be classified as “not safe” for OTC drug use. FDA estimated that this widely used drug was responsible for 200 to 500 strokes annually in the U.S. Another factor influencing FDA’s recommendation is the dangerous effects of stroke, and the uncertainty in determining who is at risk.

Contact a personal injury attorney at the law offices of O'Connor Acciani & Levy if you or someone you know was injured or died after using a product that contained phenylpropanolamine. Click here or call 513-241-7111 for a free evaluation of your case.

FDA requested in late 2000 that pharmaceutical companies find a safe substitute for PPA in their OTC medications. Due to the hundreds of products using PPA, drug manufacturers were slow to comply. Five years later, FDA saw that many products still contained PPA, and asked that this agent be reclassified as “not safe or effective” in nasal decongestants and diet drugs.

FDA also warned susceptible consumers to read labels and avoid medications containing PPA. Even though many OTC remedies may still contain PPA, products are constantly changing so that any list of PPA-containing drugs is not reliable. Examples of medications that have contained PPA are Dexatrim, Triaminic, Dimetapp, Alka-Seltzer Plus, Robitussin, CF, Contac and Tavist-D. More information is available on the FDA website (FDA News) but even this resource is dated.

While the risk of stroke due to PPA use appears relatively low, it is estimated that the widely used drug was responsible for 200 to 500 strokes each year in the United States.

The Cincinnati-based law firm O’Connor Acciani & Levy, LLC has had great success litigating product liability and prescription drug lawsuits in the Ohio Valley region. For a free evaluation of your case, contact a personal injury lawyer with PPA expertise today. Click here or call 513-241-7111.