Seroquel Settlement -- AstraZeneca Pays Half A Billion Dollars To Settle Four Seroquel Cases
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drug The New York Times reported that AstraZeneca -- the manufacturer of the atypical antipsychotic drug, Seroquel -- will pay $520 million to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits.
One of the investigations related to "selected physicians who participated in clinical trials involving Seroquel," AstraZeneca disclosed in a government filing. The other case related to off-label promotion of the drug.
As a result of aggressive marketing, Seroquel has been increasingly used for children and elderly people for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Seroquel has been the most popular antipsychotic drug in the United States with $17 billion in sales since 2004. Despite ongoing problems stemming from Seroquel, AstraZeneca's profit continues to soar.
Third-quarter revenue rose 10 percent, to $8.2 billion, and operating profit rose 29 percent, to $3.6 billion, at constant exchange rates over the year-earlier quarter.
AstraZeneca also said it had been served with 14,444 civil lawsuits over the drug as of Oct. 9.
Earlier this year, AstraZeneca acknowledged that it denied Seroquel's link to diabetes years after it acknowledged such concerns in Japan. In addition to diabetes claims, patients are pursuing claims involving weight gain and state attorneys general are pursuing claims for off-label marketing and use on behalf of state Medicaid programs.
This substantial settlement is yet another stunning admission by the company of tremendous risks and dangers of its Seroquel drug and the lengths the company went in an effort to promote off-label use and garner government approval for this dangerous drug.
Langdon & Emison is working with consumer organizations, physicians and other attorneys across the country to help build strong cases for our clients who have been injured by defective drugs or dangerous drug side effects. We don't want drug companies putting profits over safety.
Learn how to protect yourself against dangerous drugs at our web site.
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