I’m pleased to announce I’ve been listed in The Best Lawyers in America© 2023, for the 12th year in a row, and named by my peers as “Lawyer of the Year” 2023 in Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation in Scottsdale, AZ .  My practice is limited to motor vehicle collisions resulting in serious injuries, medical malpractice cases resulting in catastrophic injuries, mass tort product liability cases (current cases involve Bard Ventralex hernia mesh, Ethicon hernia physio mesh, Proceed hernia mesh, Zantac, J&J talcum powder, Elmiron, Wright Profemur, and Stryker LFIT) and mesothelioma cases.  If you or someone close to you has been seriously injured, I’m only a phone call or email away from a free consultation.

I’m pleased to announce that I have been selected to be listed in Southwest Super Lawyers in 2022 for Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury Litigation. This is the 15th year in a row I have been selected, and I could not have done so without the support of my clients and colleagues in achieving this distinction. Thanks to everyone who have supported my practice over the years.

Super Lawyers: 2008 – 2022

For the last 15 years, I have been representing claimants pursuant to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.   These claimants were individuals who were administered vaccines, and received injuries that were covered pursuant to the Act, and seeking compensation for those injuries. Effective immediately,  I have decided not to accept any new vaccine injury cases.  I am also not representing anyone who has or is currently refusing to be vaccinated, for any reason.

Steve Leshner has been listed for inclusion in the 2022 edition of Best Lawyers. This is the eleventh year in a row that Steve has been recognized. Inclusion in this published list reflects the high level of respect he has earned among his peers, colleagues and other leading lawyers. The newly released edition of The Best Lawyers in America© 2022 recognizes him for his work Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Litigation.  While there are many organizations that purport to list “Top” and “Elite” Lawyers, they only do so if you pay to be on their list. Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers lists are assembled and published without any request for payment.

Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. . Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

I’m pleased to announce that I have been selected to be listed in Southwest Super Lawyers in 2021 for Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury Litigation. This is the 14th year in a row I have been selected, and I could not have done so without the support of my clients and colleagues in achieving this distinction. Thanks to everyone who have supported my practice over the years.

Super Lawyers: 2008 – 2021

Multiple studies have suggested that long-term Elmiron use, which is prescribed to treat interstitial cystitis, can cause maculopathy — an eye disorder that can lead to blindness. A major side effect is the risk of vision loss. This eye damage worsens with time, often before symptoms begin.

Elmiron is the brand name for Pentosan, which is sodium pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS). It is prescribed to treat a condition known as interstitial cystitis, better known as painful bladder syndrome or bladder pain syndrome. There is no generic on the market for the drug.  It is made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals.Patients often take Elmiron continuously for years or decades.

While it has been on the market since 1995, there is no warning in the label of any visual changes or side effect conditions. However, in 2018, multiple studies were published that document an irreversible visual condition linked to long-term use of the drug.

Several medical studies have found that long term  Elmiron use has been linked to maculopathy.  This side effect is an eye disorder that can lead to blindness. Maculopathy is a condition that affects the macula, the central part of the retina responsible for delivering highly sensitive, accurate vision. The retinal condition, maculopathy is characterized by a progressive loss of central vision, usually bilateral, that greatly impairs vision functions. The form of macular degeneration attributed to taking Elmiron is called “pigmentary maculopathy of unknown etiology.”Maculopathy or macular degeneration is painless.  Medication users may not even notice any vision problem, because the healthy eye compensates.

The initial symptoms of pigmentary maculopathy typically include:

• Image distortion (metamorphopsis), where objects appear deformed and/or smaller.
• When the affected part is the macula (fovea) central portion, a central spot appear, where patients cannot see.

As a result, these symptoms could lead to:

• Loss of vision.
• Difficulty reading.
• Difficulty adapting to dim lighting.
• Vision disturbances or distorted vision.
• Trouble seeing things up close.
• Eye pain.

In 2018, researchers at the Emory Eye Center at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta alerted the public that taking Elmiron is linked to the retinal condition, maculopathy.  Pentosan polysulfate sodium can cause severe vision problems and side effects, including interstitial cytitis, and even blindness.

If you were a long-term user of Elmiron,  pentosan polysulfate sodium, and developed maculopathy, you may be able to sue the drug maker Janssen Pharmaceuticials.  Researchers at Emory University investigated the early clinical trials of the prescription from back in the 1990’s.  They found that almost 2,500 patients who took the drug for up to four years had serious side effects vision problems.

Despite this information, the pharmaceutical company did not place any warnings on the label.  Nor did it provide this information to physicians.

The current criteria for filing an Elmiron lawsuit requires:

1. Elmiron patients need to have used the prescription medication for at least two years.
2. Vision changes and side effects need to begin while on Elmiron needs to take place within one year of stopping.

The criteria is based upon the medical studies linking the drug to eye disease, including interstitial cytitis and maculopathy.  However, there may be exceptions to this criteria for filing Elmiron lawsuits.  There may be other eye damage claims available for you to pursue.  If you or someone close to took the prescription medication Elmiron for two years or more, and have suffered any significant eye disease, including maculopathy, please contact Phoenix Arizona Mass Tort Attorney Steve Leshner for a free consultation.

Steve Leshner has been listed for inclusion in the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers. This is the tenth year in a row that Steve has been recognized. Inclusion in this published list reflects the high level of respect he has earned among his peers, colleagues and other leading lawyers. The newly released edition of The Best Lawyers in America© 2021 recognizes him for his work Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Litigation.  While there are many organizations that purport to list “Top” and “Elite” Lawyers, they only do so if you pay to be on their list. Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers lists are assembled and published without any request for payment.

Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyerslists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. . Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

Thanks to legislation signed into law in May 2019, survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Arizona have an opportunity to seek justice, create transparency, and pursue their own healing.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has transferred all Zantac personal injury lawsuits to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407.

According to a Feb. 6 consent order, Judge Robin L. Rosenberg will oversee the docket. A transfer order issued shortly thereafter stated that the Southern District of Florida is an appropriate transferee district for this litigation, given that a “large number of Zantac actions are pending in the Southern District of Florida.”

Zantac was first sold in the United States by GlaxoSmithKline in 1983.  It is part of a class of drugs known as H2-receptor antagonists (or H2 blockers) which treat heartburn, indigestion and other gastric disorders by decreasing acid produced in a patient’s stomach.  The drugs have also been used to treat stomach ulcers.  Within a few years of its introduction, Zantac achieved “blockbuster status” with sales of more than $1 billion each year.

In 1996, Zantac became available to patients without a prescription and generic versions of ranitidine were first sold in 1997.  Even with the availability of a generic formulation, sales of the brand name version of Zantac remained strong for many years.

In the fall of 2019, a citizen’s petition was filed with the FDA seeking a safety review of Zantac and ranitidine by an independent testing company that noticed excessive levels of NDMA in drugs it had tested as a part of its work in analyzing generic drugs, identifying counterfeit medications, and performing quality control checks on medications manufactured overseas. Shortly thereafter, several recalls were issued in the United States and internationally with notifications to patients, retailers, pharmacies, and suppliers and the manufacturers announced the suspension of the sale and distribution of the drugs while the potential link between NDMA and cancer could be properly investigated.  Many retailers (including CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, etc.) also issued notices of recall and stopped selling Zantac and generic formulations of ranitidine, including versions of the products sold as store brands by the retailers.  Before this, The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has transferred all Zantac patients were unaware of the risks of potential exposure to NDMA, which was not included in the warning labels provided by the manufacturers to healthcare providers, patients, and regulatory authorities.  In 2018, there were also recalls of several generic medications used for high blood pressure and heart failure (including valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan) due to NDMA in some of those medications, which was attributed to defective manufacturing processes.

These lawsuits focus on the presence of NDMA (also known as N-Nitrosodimethylamine), a known carcinogen, in Zantac and ranitidine formulations.  Numerous studies have shown that NDMA causes cancer in animals (including stomach, intestinal, and colon cancer) and is likely to pose health risks to patients.  NDMA has been classified as a probable human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (“IARC”). It is not believed that NDMA in Zantac or ranitidine is due to contamination from the manufacturing process.  Instead, it is believed that NDMA is present due to a defective design of the drug where the drug molecules break down in a patient’s body and NDMA is created as a part of that process combined with the processing of food in a patient’s stomach.  The biological explanation for this chemical process is complex but relates to the pH levels in the stomach and levels of nitrites. NDMA is also believed to be a mutagen, so it can cause changes in animal and human cells, which may lead to tumors and cancer.

Epidemiological studies relating to NDMA exposure in humans have shown an increased risk of certain cancers including colorectal, gastric, and digestive tract cancers.  These studies were not specific to ranitidine or Zantac products, but are of concern.  There have also been a few published studies in the past that have raised concerns about the potential risks that patients might face with chronic use of ranitidine and Zantac, including possible association with an elevated risk of bladder cancer, stomach cancer, and other digestive tract cancers, although more study is warranted. That these threshold safety questions remain decades after Zantac and ranitidine were first marketed and ingested by patients is one of the primary liability issues that will be the focus of the pending individual lawsuits and class action cases.  There are also allegations in the lawsuits that some studies relied upon by the drug companies were designed in a manner to avoid detecting early signs of the presence of excessive levels of NDMA and potential signals of an unacceptable risk of cancer for patients.

If you have ingested Zantac or ranitidine products in the past and have developed colon, stomach, bladder, or digestive tract cancer, you may have a claim against the manufacturers and retailers of these products.  Please contact Steve Leshner for a free consultation.