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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday January 24, 2007 - 5 Drug manufacturer may appeal ruling Continued from page 1 Court of Justice in a decision rendered more than a year later -- last Thursday, Jan. 18 -- by Madam Justice Ellen Macdonald. "Prepulsid victims and their families in Canada have waited anxiously over six years for this decision," said Young who started the action in September 2000. The suit has been consolidated among a trio of law firms, representing numerous plaintiffs and will move forward under the representative plaintiff Aline Boulanger. According to Young and the Young family lawyer Gary Will of Oakville-based Will Barristers, the choice of representative plaintiff was a strategic decision as members of the class -- including all of Canada except Québec -- are now being represented by a consortium of law firms including Will Barristers LLP, Rochon Genova LLP of Toronto and Girones & Associates of Timmins, Ontario. "This decision will make Canadians safer, because the pharmaceutical companies are only going to publish effective safety warnings, and pull harmful or risky drugs off the market if they might face the financial impact of co-ordinated legal action by many victims acting together," said Will, one of the lead lawyers on the class action. Last Thursday's decision is not a Terrence Young court finding, just the court's permission for the case to proceed in the court system. The allegations raised in the claim have not yet been proven in court. The Canadian litigation has been moving forward very slowly as procedural motions and appeals have been brought by JanssenOrtho over the intervening years. Janssen-Ortho is now also contemplating appeal of last Thursday's decision. "Janssen-Ortho is reviewing the Ontario Court's decision to allow a class action regarding Prepulsid to go ahead. We are considering our appeal options," said a statement provided to The Oakville Beaver by the company's communications department through Suzanne Frost. "We believe the case should not proceed as a class action. In general, the group is far too diverse to be considered a class under the law. We filed more detailed arguments in court as part of the class certification hearing," said the statement. "The decision only deals with how the case will move forward. The merits of the case are still to be decided. We will vigorously defend when the merits are before the court at trial," said the statement. "Janssen-Ortho believes that Prepulsid is a safe and effective medicine when prescribed appropriately. Patient safety is a priority for our company. We conduct ourselves in a way that meets or exceeds regulatory requirement," said the release. According to Young, the decision to allow the court case to move forward has taken too long, but it is good news. Young, who founded Drug Safety Canada and has authored a book, Prescription by Death published this fall by Key Porter, said 16,000 victims in the U.S. have already filed, fought and settled claims with Johnson & Johnson for Prepulsid. Young said most of the major recommendations that came out of the Coroner's jury have not been implemented. Among the jury recommenda- "We believe the case should not proceed as a class action. In general, the group is far too diverse to be considered a class under the law." Statement by Janssen-Ortho in response to court ruling tions were including clear safety warnings on drug labels, promotional material and prescribing information, and mandatory adverse reaction reporting for health care professionals. "In almost six years none of the jury's major recommendations to improve patient safety have been implemented. Prescription drug reactions are an epidemic; one out of four patients admitted to medical wards in Canadian hospitals are still related to a prescription drug, and 70 per cent are preventable," said Young. Young said Prepulsid is still being sold in many countries under different names, but hopes for international safety reform. "Maybe a butterfly's wings in Oakville, Ontario can trigger a hurricane of prescription drug reform in other parts of the world," he said. Now that the class action has been certified, according to Will, notification can be published to let others who may have been affected know they will be included in the action. If they choose not to be included, there is a prescribed period of time in which they will be able to exercise that option. Will said the class action is likely to involve hundreds of thousands. Will said Johnson & Johnson and its related companies will have a period of time in the wake of Thursday's ruling to register an appeal. If an appeal is launched, notification will have to wait on the appeal's outcome. Will told The Oakville Beaver that a trial date is not likely to be this year, but could be some time next year. For further information on this case class members may contact Gary Will at 905-337-9568 or Joel Rochon at 416-363-1867. Prepulsid was a once popular motility drug, (its generic name is cisapride). In addition to claiming damages for cardiac-related injuries, the lawsuit also advances a claim for damages arising from the purchase of what is alleged to have been an inefficacious drug. 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