What is Permax?

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Permax, known generically as Pergolide, is a prescription medication used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that results from the degeneration of neurons in the portion of the brain that controls movement. The degeneration of the neurons in the brain reduces the amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain, which causes the impaired movements associated with Parkinson’s disease. Permax has been found to have some of the same effects on the brain as dopamine, effectively treating the tremors, poor muscle control, and stiffness of Parkinson’s disease. It is estimated that 1.5 million people in the US and 6 million worldwide suffer from Parkinson’s disease.

Permax is manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical company. The medication was approved in 1988 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the treatment of the tremors and restless leg syndrome associated with Parkinson’s disease. The generic Pergolide is manufactured by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Par Pharmaceuticals. In 2006, around 12,000 individuals received prescriptions for Pergolide and Permax.

Some common side effects of Permax include headache, nausea, abdominal pain, back pain, constipation, and anemia. Permax has also been found to affect the nervous system, sometimes resulting in dizziness, insomnia, hallucinations, nervousness, or personality disorders. Permax has been shown to impair associative learning and has been linked to numerous types of heart disease, including primary pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis, and valvular heart disease.

Evidence of an association between Permax and valvular heart disease was discovered in 2002, prompting the FDA to add a side effect warning to the label in 2003 about cardiac valvulopathy, which is a condition in which the valves of the heart become inflamed or stiffen. In 2006, the FDA decided to upgrade the alert to their strongest type of warning, a black-box warning. Evidence concerning dangerous side effects associated with Pergolide and Permax continued to surface, including two studies linking Permax to heart valve damage released in January 2007.

The clinical studies released in January were conducted by Italian and German researchers. In the Italian study, researchers found that roughly a quarter of the patients taking Permax had moderate to severe heart valve damage. The study by German doctors established that patients taking Permax were five to seven times more likely to have leaky heart valves than those on other types of Parkinson’s medications. According to researchers, these numbers indicated an extraordinarily high risk for a very dangerous side effect. There is no medication available to reverse this type of damage and some of the patients affected required the surgical replacement of the heart valves.

Due to the results of these studies, the FDA decided that Pergolide and Permax needed to be removed from the US market. This was complied with by the manufacturers in March of 2007 as a voluntary recall of Permax and Pergolide. It is estimated that close to half a million people had taken Permax before the warning about potential heart valve damage was added to the side effects listing in 2003.

Side Effects of Permax

• heart-valve damage (Aortic and Mitral Valve Injuries)
• Primary Pulmonary Hypertension
• cardiac valvulopathy
• valvular heart disease
• leaky heart valves
• pulmonary fibrosis (retroperitoneal, pleural, and pericardial fibrosis)

Do I have a Permax Lawsuit?

The Defective Drug Litigation Group at our law firm is an experienced team of trial lawyers that focus exclusively on the representation of plaintiffs in Permax and Pergolide lawsuits. We are handling individual litigation nationwide and currently accepting new Permax cases in all 50 states.

Attention Attorneys: We do not publish prior verdict/settlements. If you are an attorney and would like to refer us a case or for us to send you a profile of prior award judgments or average referral fees, please visit the attorney referral section of our website.

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