Are The Darvon Lawsuits Pushing Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals To Insolvency?

As more and more people begin to file their Darvon Lawsuit against Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, the signs that the costs of defending legal charges could shove the once up and coming drug distributor to economic failure.

After being founded in 2001 Xanodyne was able to purchase Darvon and Darvocet from AAIPharma Inc. of Wilmington, N.C. in 2005 for $209 million after AAI declared bankruptcy. AAI had just purchased Darvon and Darvocet from its original patent holder, Eli Lilly and Company, in 2002 for just over $210 million. AAI had bought Darvon and Darvocet in 2002 from Eli Lilly and Company, for just over $210 million. Being solely focused on selling and marketing drugs, Xanodyne does not manufacture any particular medicine which allows the firm to keep costs lower since it does not have to pay for expensive equipment and highly skilled workers, according to Brad Mitchell, a Cincinnati-based consultant to pharmaceutical companies.

A privately held company Xanodyne, as recently as 2007, was close to coming public off the back of its $74 million dollar revenue, $26 million dollars of which came from Darvon and Darvocet sales. In a move that preempted the FDA recall, Xanodyne laid off 60% of it’s over 200 employees, presumably because Xanodyne knew the recall was going to be initiated. The actual recall was initiated on November 2009, after an FDA initiated study made by Xanodyne showed that Darvon and Darvocet does in fact cause heart abnormalities to patients who have no previous records of heart problems and given the normal recommended dosage.

And although Xanodyne also distributes prenatal vitamins and pain medications Zipsor and Oramorph, can likely find other pharmaceutical products to compensate for the loss of Darvon and Darvocet to its revenue, the biggest cause of concern will be the legal fees and compensation damages the company faces.

With most of the Darvon lawsuits being filed against Xanodyne by the injured consumers of the drug claming that Xanodyne failed to proved them with sufficient warning about the dangerous side effects of the drug. Set for later this month, a Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is set to meet in San Diego, where it will hear arguments about whether all federal propoxyphene cases should be consolidated under a single judge for pretrial matters.

We will stay up to date with the decision of the panel. Feel free to visit the Darvon/Darvocet main site for more information about your claims.