Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17145

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

Jack A
Seroquel pain
The Finanical Times 2010 Jan 29
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d1a66f34-0c74-11df-a941-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d1a66f34-0c74-11df-a941-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=

Full text:

AstraZeneca faces costs of up to $1.2bn from the escalating number of legal cases brought by patients and regulators suing it over alleged improper marketing and side effects caused by Seroquel , its blockbuster antipsychotic drug that generated $4.9bn in sales last year.
In its fourth quarter, the group boosted provisions to $524m for a settlement with the US Attorney’s Office investigation into sales and marketing practices of Seroquel.
Separately, it is defending about 10,000 lawsuits in the US involving 22,000 plaintiffs, with a further 177 cases filed. It has incurred legal defence costs of $656m until the end of last year, on which it anticipates insurance reimbursement on $521m. It also faces a hearing on four class actions in Canada, and patent challenges in the US, Brazil and Portugal.
David Brennan, chief executive, said it was unfortunate that internal documents were released as part of the US litigations that suggested it attempted to play down side effects and resist publication of full clinical trial data. “Our position is that we acted ethically throughout and will vigorously defend these lawsuits.”