Drugmaker Withdraws Accutane Acne Medicine from Market

Roche Holding AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of cancer drugs, is pulling its Accutane acne medication from the U.S. market as the company confronts an increasing number of personal injury lawsuits and competition from generic versions of the acne drug. Juries have awarded at least $33 milllion in damages to consumers who say that Roche did not properly warn them of Accutane’s serious side effects, which include inflammatory bowel disease, birth defects and depression. Accutane has already been withdrawn from the market in 11 countries. (6/26) Bloomberg