Almost 4,000 product liability lawsuits have been settled between drug maker, AstraZeneca Plc, the maker of the antipsychotic drug, Seroquel, and consumers who claim that use of the drug caused weight gain and diabetes. Cases have been heard in state court while others have been consolidated in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida in Orlando.
The settlements were reached through mediation and will be kept confidential. In March, AstraZeneca announced in a regulatory filing that more than 10,000 cases had been filed involving 22,500 plaintiffs who claimed the drug caused diabetes. Some of those cases had been dismissed over a lack of evidence.
The lawsuits claim that London-based AstraZeneca knew about the side effects of significant weight gain and diabetes but failed to include a warning in the drug’s label.
Even a 2003 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry echoed the finding that Seroquel was linked to an increased risk of diabetes.
So far AstraZeneca has spent about $688 million defending Seroquel-related cases, reports Bloomberg. On average, plaintiff cases had been settled for about $10,000 each, which is an insignificant amount for a drug injury.
In a parallel action, the FDA is pursuing the company for failing to mention a link to diabetes in its promotional materials. Pharmalot reports the FDA sent a letter on July 29 to the company saying the risks were omitted while the efficacy of Seroquel’s slow release XR was overstated by promising patients would experience remission with the drug. In April, AstraZeneca paid the federal government $520 million to settle charges that it improperly marketed Seroquel for unapproved uses.
If you or a loved one has taken Seroquel and experienced side effects, you may have a product liability action against the drug maker for a failure to warn. Contact the experienced Florida defective drug attorneys at Farah and Farah for a consultation on your case.
