The Arkansas attorney general is preparing to file what could be a $600 million lawsuit against three pharmaceutical manufacturers. The case which will likely be filed in the Pulaski County Circuit Court within the month will name the Eli Lilly & Co., Janssen Pharmaceutica and Astra Zeneca. as defendants. At issue in the case is the companies “off label” marketing practices of the anti-psychotic drugs Zyprexa (Lilly), Risperdal (Jansen) and Seroque (Astra Zeneca).
Off Label marketing is a practice in which a drug is marketed to doctors as a treatment for condition which it was not approved by the FDA. Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroque are anti-psychotics which are approved to treat conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and would normally be prescribed by a Psychiatrist. In this case, the companies are alleged to have promoted the drug to primary care physicians for the treatment of dementia and anxiety, conditions much less severe than those that were “on label”.
Many of the patients who took the drugs for the lesser conditions suffered sever side effects and as a result, the state wants to recover its costs.
The state is suing to recover an estimated $200 million its Medicaid program spent on the drugs over the past eight years. Because Arkansas state law allows for triple damages the suit could reach $600 million. Attorney General McDaniel has given the case to the Houston based lawyers of Bailey Perrin Bailey LLP. (website). The firm is already handling several similar cases and the AG admits that this case large enough that his office could not handle it independently.
This should be an interesting case. While the big pharma guys appear to have pushed things pretty far in this case, off label prescriptions are a legal and accepted practice in medicine.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Natalie Fahmy // Oct 27, 2007 at 12:36 am
I was placed on risperidal for anxiety. I now have severe medical problems. I have an underactive thyroid gland, inflamation around the gut, my DHEA is 453, cortisol and adrenal glands are off balance, food allergies to wheat/dairy/soy/gluten, gained 12 pounds, acne,and lost all creativity (I don’t sing or write my own songs anymore.)
What can I due to sue Risperidal for what they did to me?
2 Laurie // Mar 31, 2008 at 7:00 pm
My father had by-pass surgery and then we were told he developed dementia
He was given risperidal and quickly went down-hill He died 1/10/06 in a nursing home only a short time after what was called a successful operation. He could not move a muscle and stopped eating because he could not swallow. Will the ruling in this case make it possible for my mother to be a part of a class action law suit for the doctors using risperdal as a treatment for dementia?
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