If you take dietary supplements, you may want to make sure that the product you are ingesting is safe. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised against using a popular supplement after an examination of a shipment of the product was found to contain Prozac.
According to BuzzFeed, the FDA announced last week that OxyElite Pro Super Thermogenic contains the prescription drug fluoxetine, better known as Prozac. This is scary because Prozac is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), commonly used to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder.
“Uses of SSRIs have been associated with serious side effects including suicidal thinking, abnormal bleeding, and seizures,” the FDA said in its warning. According to BuzzFeed, OxyElite’s manufacturer, USPlabs, denied allegations that the product contains Prozac, saying that the FDA inspected a bottle of the drug that must have been “fraudulent” or counterfeit.
For its part, the FDA said that it found Prozac in products after it conducted an “examination of international mail shipments.”
It should be noted that this is not the first time that USPlabs has been scrutinized over a product. According to BuzzFeed, in 2011, an earlier version of OxyElite was found to contain DMAA, a synthetic stimulant linked to bleeding strokes and sudden deaths. Additionally, in 2013, a reformulated version of the product was linked to an outbreak of liver disease, resulting in 47 hospitalizations, three organ transplants and one death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Having an Attorney Investigate a Defective Dietary Supplement Case
We reported about the dangers surrounding dietary supplements in our blog last fall. At the time, Reuters reported that researchers found that 27 of 274 dietary supplements that the FDA recalled between 2009 and 2012 were still available for purchase on manufacturer websites following their recall.
Remember, if you are ever injured or a defective product like an over-the-counter supplement kills your loved one, you could potentially hold the manufacturer liable. This is why it may be important to seek legal counsel. You could seek damages, which could be used to pay for healthcare treatment, in addition to your pain and suffering.
For more information about products liability lawsuits, continue to follow our blog. Our attorneys assist injury victims in Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County and Arlington County.
Koonz, McKenney, Johnson & DePaolis L.L.P.