[Sherree]

Yesterday my partner showed me a letter received from a law firm looking to represent clients who may have been injured by taking Lotronex. I have no idea how or where they got the name and address. I know we've discussed these lawsuits before, but this time it is more personal. I e-mailed the firm, and received a quick response. Thought you all might find it interesting. I am very angry with this guy. He deserves a response, don't you think?!From: Sherree Lewis [mailto:sherlewis###msn.com]Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 10:47 PMTo: schmidt###schmidtlaw.comSubject: LotronexMy partner just received a letter from your firm - Re: Lotronex Recall Alert. I suffer from IBS diarrhea and have for about 20 years. Lotronex worked beautifully for me for 8 months. No other medication has given me the relief that Lotronex did. I am a member of the Lotronex Action Group and we are working for the return of this medication that has helped thousands of us, despite stupid solicitations and pending lawsuits form money seeking law firms such as yours. You are NOT in the medical field and have no idea of the suffering and loss of quality of life that affects IBS sufferers. Mind your own business and find some other ambulance to chase! Sherree L. Lewis414 Juedes Ave. NKeizer, OR 97303sherlewis###msn.com Ms. Lewis:The last thing I wanted to spend time on this morning was responding to an email such as yours. Ever since I began representing injured people I have had to defend my profession from uneducated and ignorant people who prefer not to look at the good side of what lawyers and our legal system do for our society. I take you as an educated person, and I felt that as such you deserve a proper response. Hopefully, I can point out some things that will open your mind into looking at both sides of every issue. The problem is that you are to close to the subject. Your anger is unfairly vented towards the very people who are trying to protect consumers, people just like you, from things that harm them. I hope that my response will at least give you some food for thought. Lotronex was designed and approved for people with IBS, diarrhea predominate. You know that. The drug was good and effective for people in that category of IBS, but not without side effects. The first problem with Lotronex, and the problem with the marketing every drug, is that the drug company did not disclose all of the risks associated with Lotronex. When they did they downplayed the risk. They did this because if they were up front about the risk factor many people would choose not to take the drug. Ischemic colitis was one such risk with Lotronex. Many people such as you were not given the choice of accepting that risk prior to taking the drug. As a result some patients lost some or all of their colon. Some have died. Many of these people you have never heard about in your action group. There were other side effects as well. Those side effects were never mentioned.What you don't know, but I do, is that Ischemic Colitis was not the real problem with Lotronex. To Glaxo, Lotronex was a failure. They thought they would have a larger market of IBS, diarrhea predominate patients who needed the drug. Those people did not come forward and take the drug for whatever reason. Since they are a for profit business institution, their marketing section took over and compensated. They first started educating the doctors that they could also give the drug to "alternators." That is those who have diarrhea ... but are also normal or constipated some of the time. They next began educating the doctors and marketing the drug to patients who had abdominal pain. Finally, they launched into patients that have an upper GI problem called Non-specific Dyspepsia. The drug was never approved for those conditions. The drug is designed to slow the colon down. If you are normal or constipated and take the drug, the reaction and side effects are severe and life threatening. Many, many, many people had that experience but you do not know about them.If you want to point the finger at somebody, point the finger at Glaxo. People such as you that benefited from this drug were robbed of the opportunity because they put profits over patient's safety. I hope that the drug becomes available again for people such as you. You can bet that a lot of effort and money will be spent to make sure that the drug makes it into the right hands this time. Why, because ambulance chasing lawyers such as me have made sure of that. When the drug companies put profits ahead of patient safety, I am there ready to spend my money to uncover it. Unfortunately, my profession is a business as well. When many, many people come forward and have been harmed by negligence and malice, I set out to find the other people who are similarly situated (but don't know it) so that they to can be compensated for the great harm caused to them and their families. BTW: Lawyers didn't pull Lotronex from the market, the FDA did.____________________________ Michael Schmidt The Schmidt Firm 8401 North Central Expressway Suite 880 Dallas, Texas 75225 214-521-4898 schmidt###schmidtlaw.com

 

[Sherree]

Here is my reply to Mr. Schmidt:Mr. Schmidt: Thank you for your response. I agree that GSK is much to blame for the failure of Lotronex. I have contacted them on more than one occasion. Perhaps you are right about improper prescription of the drug. I'm sure it was not properly prescribed in many cases. The dosage may have been too high as well. I never started with the original suggested dosage. But I did very well at a fourth of that. As many others I know have attested to as well. I am not pointing my finger at you or your firm, though suing is not the answer either, or at all helpful to the thousands of patients who need the medication. What I am angry about is seeing that solicitation letter in my mailbox!!! I have no idea where you got the name and address, but I can tell you it was a waste of time and effort. If people want to use your services, fine. They have every right to contact you. I have been aware of other lawyers looking to sue over possible injuries from Lotronex. I have ignored them until now. This is personal. To aggressively go out and send out solicitation letters is ambulance chasing in my mind. And when you do send out letters like the one my partner received, you better expect emails and letters from people like me, educated or not. I am sure you and your firm have done good things for the public. I'm sure your intentions are honorable. But stay out of my mailbox! I didn't ask for it. Question: Have you bothered soliciting clients for other drugs that have been pulled? Have you looked into other drugs that have caused side effects or deaths? How about Viagra?! BTW: GSK voluntarily pulled Lotronex from the market, not the FDA. I never even insinuated that lawyers did. Sherree L. Lewis

 

[atp]

Perhaps then this lawyer would like to sue Glaxo for the pain and suffering we have experienced as a result of Lotronex being pulled from the market.My GI specialist told me that the FDA did not tell Glaxo the drug had to be pulled; they wanted more studies and more restrictions, which would make the drug less lucrative for the drug company. Profit margins are apparently more important in their eyes than the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people.I'm glad I had my 6 months of almost no GI woes while on Lotronex. But at the same time, I almost wish I didn't experience that, because it makes me even more mad that the drug was taken away. The worst part is I never dreamed that the drug would be recalled, and I took a job that was not very compatible with chronic diarrhea...a job that I no longer have.