Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15841

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Publication type: news

Cronin Fisk M, Feeley J.
AstraZeneca Can’t Stop Testimony by Seroquel Expert Witness
Bloomberg.com 2009 Jun 19
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=a8tMS8AIfZZM

Full text: AstraZeneca Plc can’t block testimony by a medical expert that its antipsychotic Seroquel can cause weight gain and diabetes, a federal judge ruled.

The witness, Donna Arnett, professor and chairwoman of the epidemiology department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, contends that Seroquel causes metabolic changes, which can lead to diabetes without weight gain. She also contends metabolic risks occur with Seroquel throughout treatment, according to court papers.

AstraZeneca, based in London, sought to have Arnett disqualified, saying she cherry-picked data favorable to her opinion. U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway said yesterday that Arnett will be allowed to testify in Seroquel trials, with a jury deciding whether her conclusions are credible.

“The admissibility of Dr. Arnett’s general causation testimony is a close question,” Conway said in her 39-page decision. “The court finds that any weaknesses in Dr. Arnett’s methodology bear on the weight of her testimony, not its ultimate admissibility.”

The decision will apply to about 6,000 cases pending in federal court in Orlando, Florida, said plaintiffs’ attorney Paul Pennock.

‘Tremendously Important’

“This is tremendously important,” Pennock said in an interview. “Clearly, the federal judge recognizes these cases are going to trial.”

Tony Jewell, an AstraZeneca spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement, “The heart of these cases are unproven claims that Seroquel causes diabetes in individual patients.”

“Judges at both the federal and state levels have dismissed the initial cases prepared for trial, concluding that plaintiffs did not have sufficient evidence to establish that Seroquel was responsible for their alleged injuries,” he said. “In the cases prepared for trial to date, plaintiffs have been repeatedly unable to prove their claims in court.”

More than 15,000 patients have sued AstraZeneca in state and federal courts, claiming the company withheld information about a connection between diabetes and Seroquel use from doctors and users of the drug. The federal cases are combined in a multidistrict litigation before Conway.

Seroquel, which generated sales of $4.45 billion last year, is AstraZeneca’s second-biggest seller after the ulcer treatment Nexium.

AstraZeneca won dismissal in January of the first two cases set for trial in federal court in Orlando. Conway threw out the claims, ruling that two former Seroquel users couldn’t prove the drug contributed to their development of diabetes.

AstraZeneca last month also won dismissal of the first state case set for trial in Delaware after the judge excluded an expert linking Seroquel use to the plaintiff’s diabetes.

The case is In Re Seroquel Products Litigation, 06-MD-01769, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida (Orlando).