Third Circuit Allows RICO Suit Against GlaxoSmithKline to Proceed

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit allowed a group of third party payors, including union health and welfare funds, to continue pursuing their racketeering class action suit against GlaxoSmithKline related to the diabetes drug Avandia. The Third Circuit found that allegations that the funds overpaid for Avandia were material enough to survive dismissal. This case goes back several years to soon after the FDA approval of Avandia. The FDA had concerns about heart-related disease being linked to Avandia and asked GSK to stop minimizing the risk of heart attacks and heart-related chest diseases in its marketing and required GSK to update their warning on the drug to include new data about the potential increased occurrence of heart attack and heart-related chest pain in some Avandia patients. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded that, compared with the use of competing diabetes drugs, Avandia was associated with a significant increase in the risk of myocardial infarction and a borderline-significant increase in the risk of death from heart-related diseases. The third party payors in this case allege that GSK responded to that study with a marketing campaign designed to sway doctors and consumer confidence by challenging the study's methodology and conclusions. The third party payors who brought this suit assert that GSK's failure to disclose Avandia's significant heart-related risks violated RICO based on predicates ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs