I currently represent a family who had a loved one that suffered a stroke while participating in a clinical trial for the cancer drug Aflibercept. My client ultimately died just months later. The drug, which is manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis, is currently in Phase III clinical trials.
Interestingly, it is my understanding that other participants in this study have experienced strokes or stroke like symptoms. And Sanofi-Aventis hasn't denied that their drug caused my client to have a stroke and incur substantial medical bills and miserable suffering during the last months of his life. Instead, their lawyer points out that my client "did have cancer afterall" and that the company shouldn't be liable for any more than his medical bills at most.
It is ridiculous that a company uses someone like my client as a guinea pig for a drug from which they will probably make billions of dollars marketing. Nonetheless, it is exactly this kind of behavior that causes me to want to fight that much harder. Once the litigation begins, I'll find out where the bones are buried. I can promise you that!
If you know anyone who has experienced a stroke during the Aflibercept trials, I'd love to hear from you. When people band together and share information, big companies are forced to acknowledge their wrongful behavior.
And if this drug is released to market, and Sanofi-Aventis doesn't warn about the risk of stroke, let this blog post be a testament to the fact that they possessed this information during the trials.
