Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17328

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Publication type: news

Noguchi S
County files lawsuit against drug giant over diabetes medication
Mercury News 2010 Feb 26
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14479557?nclick_check=1

Full text:

Claiming that a major drugmaker made billions of dollars on a diabetes medication that caused heart attacks and strokes, Santa Clara County on Friday filed a lawsuit charging a decade of false advertising and seeking compensation on behalf of patients and providers in California.
Although patients have filed many personal-injury lawsuits against Pennsylvania-based GlaxoSmithKline over its drug Avandia, this is the first governmental lawsuit claiming the drugmaker falsely advertised Avandia’s benefits and concealed its risks, according to Tamara Lange, Santa Clara County’s lead deputy county counsel.
The county alleges that GlaxoSmithKline earned billions of dollars on Avandia and cited an estimate that the drug caused 60,000 to 200,000 heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths nationwide from 1999 to 2006.
Lange did not have an estimate for the number of deaths caused locally or for the number of patients in Santa Clara County who took the drug, which helps control blood sugar levels.
But she said that the local costs are higher than in many other areas because the county runs its own hospital and treats indigent patients.
The county spent $2 million on Avandia from 1999 to mid-2007 for indigent patients and also absorbed the cost of treating heart patients whose problems could have been avoided had GlaxoSmithKline warned of the risks of its drug, the county alleges.
No representative of the company could be reached Friday afternoon.
A report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, leaked to the media Feb. 20, said Avandia caused heart attacks and strokes and recommended it be removed from the market.
Avandia has been under scrutiny for several years, and in September the county removed the drug from its formulary of recommended drugs.
While the county already was considering a lawsuit, the FDA report “spurred us on,” Lange said.
“We concluded it would really be in the interest of the people of California for a government entity to be out front challenging this sort of corporate behavior,” Lange said.
The lawsuit seeks to recover costs incurred by anyone who purchased Avandia, including hospitals, clinics and counties.
The lawsuit, on behalf of all patients in California, was filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose. It could be consolidated with other litigation over Avandia that is set to be heard in Pennsylvania, Lange said.