Are Oral Fosamax Tablets The Lesser Evil?
In Tribune-Star, an article was published telling the story of a woman who suffered Osteonecrosis of the Jaw(ONJ), a condition wherein parts of the jaw bones die due to lack of blood flow, as a result of being intravenously injected two times with Fosamax. Her doctor gave her the IV Fosamax over a period of two years. Luckily, she recovered quickly but she needed to have several of her teeth pulled to correct the damage. It would show that IV Fosamax bears quicker and generally graver side effects than Fosamax tablets. Hundreds of users of this drug are going through the motions of filing a Fosamax lawsuit in response to this.
When asked, Novartis, the maker of the drug injected to the woman in question, quickly dismissed any relationship between biphosphonate and ONJ, stating, “Based on best available scientific evidence, a causal relationship between osteonecrosis of the jaw and bisphosphonate therapy, or any individual therapy factor, has not been established.”
Usually, Fosamax is given by doctors in 5-70mg tablet form. This is a popular form of medication since it is easy to take the drug on your own. But what most people fail to realize is that Fosamax’s active ingredient, alendronate sodium, cannot be easily absorbed by the body. In fact, about 99% of the drug is excreted through natural means and 0.6-0.7% of it is really absorbed. That is why doctors resort to IV to administer Fosamax in extreme cases where patients suffer from degenerative bone problems.
Intravenous Fosamax is then considered to be more destructive than oral Fosamax tablets. Medical experts have noticed trend in which Fosamax-caused ONJ was a result of taking Intravenous Fosamax. This means that, as opposed to using oral Fosamax, you are more likely to experience ONJ when you have been injected by Fosamax. Not to mention that due to the slow absorption rate of oral Fosamax, doctors tend to over-prescribe the drug. If you believe you have been affected by the drug, you should discuss your legal options with a highly competent product liability lawyer. You could recover a fair amount in compensation from Merck. Updates on the current case are available when you check out the Fosamax fracture lawsuit information website.