Avastin, also known as bevacizumab is the subject of a current class action lawsuit investigation due to adverse effects and complications that the drug seems to be causing in patients who take it to treat eye conditions.

Those who have had Avastin silicone eye injections have reportedly suffered from a number of Avastin injection eye side effects including visible floaters inside the eyes.

Avastin is approved by the FDA as a cancer treatment drug. It is also used to treat several other diseases associated with the eye that also include: retinal vein occlusion; diabetic macular edema; diabetic retinopathy; and macular degeneration.

These are off-label uses for Avastin. Off-label uses have not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Although it is perfectly legal for a physician to prescribe off-label uses of a medication, it is illegal for drug companies to advertise or promote these prescription drugs for these alleged uses.

Avastin Eye Injection Facts

What is causing these Avastin floaters is not purportedly the drug but the injection with which the drug is delivered.

Before a patient is injected with the Avastin drug, the drug itself is prepared in a syringe by a compound pharmacist. Once they are filled, they are sent off to ophthalmologists for patient treatment.

However, an issue that has also played a role in causing these Avastin injection eye side effects is that the syringes into which they are placed into may not be manufactured and designed for eye injections.

These syringes may be lubricated with silicone oil. The silicone oil can may contaminate the Avastin itself and eventually make its way into a patient’s eye, thus causing and leaving behind silicone floaters. Patients report these silicone floaters look very similar to air bubbles lodged in the patient’s eye.

A further issue is that the more time the syringe sits in storage waiting to be used, the increased likelihood that the silicone oil may mix in with the Avastin drug. Freezing the syringe increases the likelihood of silicone oil mixing with Avastin.

Further Avastin Injection Eye Side Effects

Some other Avastin injection eye side effects include but are also not limited to the following: increased intraocular pressure; inflammation; infection (endophthalmitis); retinal tearing; retinal detachment; cataract formation; glaucoma (increased pressure in the eye); hypotony (reduced pressure in the eye); corneal damage; vision loss/blindness; and other sight-related complications.

In 2011, two cases, in Florida and Tennessee, respectively, caused a patient to also become infected with a serious eye bacterial infection, an alleged result of contamination of the Avastin eye injection syringe. Some patients, as a result suffered with complete loss of vision. Others developed an infection which purportedly spread to his brain, as a result.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Avastin silicone injection class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Avastin lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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