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Common Drug Linked to Deadly Risk: Tylenol and Liver Damage

Seeger Weiss LLP is investigating injury claims associated with common pain and fever reducing drug acetaminophen—also known as Tylenol. Tylenol has been linked with severe liver damage, liver failure, and death.

Available over the counter or as a prescription, Tylenol / acetaminophen is one of the most commonly used drugs in country. In prescriptions, it is often combined with other drugs to create a combination painkiller, like Percocet, Vicodin, and Tylenol with Codeine. More than 200 million prescriptions are written every year in the United States for these combination drugs.

FDA Places New Restrictions on Tylenol and Related Medications

On January 13, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration required drug manufacturers to limit the amount of acetaminophen to only 325 milligrams per dose. Before this restriction was put into place, many prescription medications contains upwards of 750 milligrams of acetaminophen per dose. The FDA also mandated that all prescription products containing acetaminophen must bear their most severe “Black Box” warning. Over-the-counter acetaminophen-based medications, like Tylenol, were required to change the recommended dosage on their labels and warn users of liver injury earlier this year.

Patients Taking More Acetaminophen than They Realize

The FDA recommends that people not take more than 4,000 milligrams of acetaminophen per day. Users often mistakenly take more than the advised limit because they may be taking more than one medication that contains acetaminophen without realizing it. Many products list “APAP” – an abbreviation for acetaminophen – as an ingredient instead of the full drug name.

The new dosage restrictions will be enacted over a period of three years. Until fully enacted, taking Tylenol as directed for four days can put patients at risk of liver damage. In a recent study performed by scientists at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, up to 44% of all participants who took acetaminophen over a period of two weeks—whether alone or in combination with another drug—experienced abnormal elevations of a certain liver enzyme that is a precursor to liver damage.

Further studies have shown that around half of all reported cases of liver failure, roughly 800 a year, are caused by an overdose of acetaminophen.

Learn more at Seeger Weiss's online center for Tylenol and liver injury: www.tylenolliverdamages.com.

Contact Us Today

Seeger Weiss LLP is investigating injury claims associated with Tylenol and other acetaminophen-based medications. If you or someone you know has taken a drug containing acetaminophen and suffered liver damage or failure, contact us today by filling out the form to the right, or calling us toll free. An experienced attorney with Seeger Weiss LLP will assist you in evaluating your claim. Attorney consultations incur no obligation on your part and all initial consultations are free of charge. Seeger Weiss LLP has office locations in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Oklahoma and California.

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