Drugmakers Paying Billions for Overpromoting Psychiatric Medications With Serious Side Effects

Virginia (VA) Dangerous Drug Injury Lawyers
Offices in VA Beach, Hampton & Elizabeth City, NC

Dangerous Drugs & Devices/Product Recalls

11/3/2009
Emily Mapp Brannon
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Drugmakers Paying Billions for Overpromoting Psychiatric Medications With Serious Side Effects

AstraZeneca last week announced that it would pay a total of $520 million to settle federal and whistleblower charges that it had improperly marketed its medication Seroquel. The size of these combined settlements, first reported in the New York Times, may seem large. Compared with the $1.4 billion Eli Lilly agreed to pay in fines for encouraging the inappropriate use of Zyprexa, however, AstraZeneca's penalty for putting patients at inappropriate risk looks paltry.

Both Seroquel, which has the generic name quetiapine fumarate, and Zyprexa (olanzapine) have U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved indications for treating bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in adults. Neither medication has been studied and found safe in children. Both medications have caused fatalities among elderly patients with dementia; have caused rapid, significant weight gain and diabetes among users; and have increased users' depression and risk for committing suicide.

AstraZeneca faces more than 14,000 civil suits from patients and patients' families over the too-aggressive marketing of Seroquel. Lilly settled its own rash of Zyprexa-related lawsuits for more than $800 million.

Theses fines and cash payouts for the misuse of potentially dangerous drugs represent justice for past victims and victims' families. They are not, however, enough to protect patients moving forward. Despite federal regulations and industry-developed standards prohibiting the marketing of prescription drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, drugmakers continue to promote their medications for so-called "off-label" uses.

Such practices need to stop. No prescription drug is completely risk-free, but patients do not have be put in harm's way by companies or doctors who use medications off label in unsafe ways. Patients need to be assured that the drugs they take are safe for them and proven effective for treating their condition.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and we have experience handling dangerous drugs and prescription drug errors. Check out our dangerous drug information page to learn more about side effects and recalls. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) and we have another office in Elizabeth City, North Carolina (NC). Our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

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Drugmakers Paying Billions for Overpromoting Psychiatric Medications With Serious Side Effects

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