Johnson & Johnson fined $8 billion for not telling consumers drug could grow breasts in men, Global : Today Indya

Johnson & Johnson fined $8 billion for not telling consumers drug could grow breasts in men

Global

indiatoday

A US jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one of its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that is allegedly linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in men.

Johnson & Johnson fined $8 billion for not telling consumers drug could grow breasts in men

Johnson & Johnson must pay $8 billion in punitive damages to a man who previously won $680,000 over his claims that it failed to warn that young men using its antipsychotic drug Risperdal could grow breasts, a Philadelphia jury said on Tuesday.

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury’s verdict in favour of Nicholas Murray came in the first case in which a Pennsylvania jury had been able to consider awarding punitive damages in one of the thousands of Risperdal cases pending in the state.

This jury, as have other juries in other litigations, once again imposed punitive damages on a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients, Murray’s lawyers, Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, said in a joint statement. Johnson & Johnson and (subsidiary) Janssen chose billions over children.

J&J said the award was grossly disproportionate with the initial compensatory award in this case, and the company is confident it will be overturned. It added that the jury in the case had not been allowed to hear evidence of Risperdal’s benefits.

Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law said he expects the punitive damages to be lowered on appeal, citing a US Supreme Court decision which found that few awards exceeding a single-digit ratio between punitive and compensatory damages, to a significant degree, will satisfy due process.

Tobias said the verdict was about sending a message.

A jury, if it’s outrageous enough conduct, will award a big number and let the lawyers and judges work it out, he said.

Tobias added that the verdict could be a sign that J&J will face more large damages awards in other Risperdal cases.

The kind of evidence in this trial may persuade another jury or judge to do something similar, he said.

Murray, like other male plaintiffs in the mass tort litigation over Risperdal, alleges that he developed breasts after being prescribed the medicine when he was a minor. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in late 1993 for treating schizophrenia and episodes of bipolar mania in adults.

Plaintiffs claim that J&J failed to warn of the risk of gynecomastia, the development of enlarged breasts in males, associated with Risperdal, which they say the company marketed for unapproved uses with children.

In his lawsuit, Murray, now 26, alleged that he developed breasts after his doctors began prescribing him Risperdal off-label in 2003 after a psychologist diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder. Doctors are allowed to prescribe medicines as they see fit, while companies are only allowed to promote their drugs for approved uses.

A jury in 2015 awarded Murray $1.75 million after finding J&J was negligent in failing to warn of the risk of gynecomastia. A state appeals court upheld the verdict in February 2018 but reduced it to $680,000.

Plaintiffs in the mass tort litigation had been barred from seeking punitive damages since 2014, when a state court judge ruled that the law of New Jersey, which prohibits punitive damages and is J&J’s home state, should be applied globally to the cases.

But a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling in 2018 cleared the way for punitive damages awards, holding that the law of each plaintiff’s state should instead apply.

Article Original Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/johnson-johnson-fined-8-billion-fo...

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This Is Why Your Attitude Is More Important Than Your IQ

Global

truththeory

What is the right determinant of success? Most would say intelligence. After all, we have been taught that intelligent people are often smart and can find their way in life quite easily. They will race to their goal faster and more efficiently than those who have less IQ and are less intelligent. However, a study at Stanford University claims that it is not IQ but the attitude that can be a determinant of success.

According to researcher and psychologist, Carol Dweck, people have two kinds of mentality: growth and fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset knows that they cannot change their ways and so, when challenges come up, they resist and use the same methods again. However, a person with a growth mindset changes, takes conscious effort to improve themselves. A person with a growth mindset can outperform a person with a fixed mindset multiple times – even if they have a low IQ.

One of the ways to determine success is how you handle failure. Failure is actually a marker – either you can learn from it and say ‘Being a problem-solver, I can find another approach to this’. Or you can be affected by it, internalize it and avoid the problem entirely while being depressed about it.

There are certain strategies to help you develop the growth mindset:

Don’t Be Helpless

One of the worst things that happens is when people give up at times when nothing is going their way. Yes, it is a time when you feel terribly helpless. You feel like you have hit rock bottom. However, these are the times when you walk forward, learn from your mistakes, and try and move to a better area. You have experienced an event of growth.

Walt Disney got the sack from Kansas City Star due to his lack of imagination. Oprah Winfrey was let go from a morning show because she was too ‘emotionally invested’. Guess what, these perceived weaknesses became their strengths. Even Steven Spielberg was rejected at USC’s Cinematic Arts School. However, they had the growth mindset to learn from these. If they had a fixed mindset, they would wallow in self-pity and stay in the same place without growing

Passion

If you want to be truly empowered, you have to follow your passion. Yes, you may not be naturally talented at it, but your hard work will make up for it. Talent without hard work is nothing. And if you are not talented, you can do better than a naturally talented person with your hard work. Use Buffet’s method to identify your passion. Write 25 things you love doing, cross out the last 20. The 5 remaining are what you really want to do with your life.

Action

Start taking action and not worry about how things will turn out to be. Fixed mindset people lose a lot of their time worrying about things. However, for growth mindset people, worrying is just a waste of time. Why worry if you can use that worry and convert it into actions? They act and work on themselves to actively make the worry go away. Their action speaks louder than words.

Going The Extra Mile

When you are passionate about something, you are willing to go the extra mile. You don’t mind if it tires you out or if it’s the worst day of your life – you will work and make things happen for the day. You have daily goals and you will meet them, no matter what.

Bruce Lee and his encounter with a student is a perfect example of this. When one of his pupils was too tired after running 3 miles, Lee told him to do two more. He told his mentor that he would die if he did another mile. Bruce Lee said that he should do it then. Angry, the pupil started running and did two miles. When he confronted Lee afterward, Lee said that if he was going to quit, he should better die than quit. Exceeding your limits is what you need to do to achieve what you want in life.

Results

Be hopeful and find results at the end of every task. A person with a growth mindset will try to find results in everything, even failure. They might know that they will fail at something, but they are willing to look at it with a result-searching point of view. That’s the way they learn and grow.

Flexibility

When you have a growth mindset, you will look at the world differently. If you face an obstacle, you will consider it as a friend that is trying to push you to be better. You won’t think that it is holding you back. You are constantly learning from it. So, be flexible and learn from obstacles. Don’t be a rigid wall and meet another fixed obstacle and clash. Find a way around.

Complains

Blaming others is such an easy thing to do. Stop blaming others and find solutions. People with a growth mindset do not waste time blaming other people. Rather, they would find solutions to problems and move on.

Make your mind more growth-oriented. Look at failures as pillars of success. That will make you a successful person in the future.

Article Original Source : https://truththeory.com/2019/10/07/this-is-why-your-attitude-is-more-import...