Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15168

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Amgen Faces Whistleblower Suit
The Wall Street Journal 2009 Feb 27
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123575906458796121.html

Abstract:

An unidentified whistleblower has filed a lawsuit against Amgen Inc. accusing the biotechnology company of illegal marketing of its blockbuster drugs Enbrel and Aranesp.

Wyeth, which co-markets Enbrel with Amgen, also was named as a defendant, along with wholesale drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp., online health-information provider WebMD Health Corp. and other defendants.

An amended version of the lawsuit was filed in 2007 in the U.S. District Court in Boston, but had been under seal in accordance with a federal whistleblower law that protects the identify of the plaintiff. In the drug industry, such suits are often filed by former employees …