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Case ID: 4450 | Drugs / Medical | 09/30/2005
In the world of prescription drugs, Lipitor reigns king with over $10 billion in annual sales. Some consumer groups, however, believe that the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer Inc., engaged in deceptive advertising of the cholesterol drug in order to boost sales.
A class action was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts by Community Catalyst and Health Care, only one day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug for additional populations. The litigation claims Pfizer marketed Lipitor to reduce cholesterol in patient populations that had not been covered in clinical trials. The suit also alleges that Pfizer engaged in a massive campaign to convince both doctors and patients that Lipitor is a useful treatment for nearly everyone with elevated cholesterol, even though no studies have shown it to be effective for women and those over 65 years of age who do not already have heart disease or diabetes. In particular, the suit claims that Pfizer violated state consumer protection laws by promoting Lipitor as preventing heart disease in women or people over 65 who did not have heart disease and diabetes when it did not have studies to support such a claim. Pfizer, however, announced that the FDA approved the drug for patients with Type 2 diabetes and those without diabetes who did not have heart disease but who had one or more risk factors for the condition other than high cholesterol. These include high blood pressure, family history, being over 55, smoking, and obesity. The approval was based on two clinical trials involving more than 13,000 patients, Pfizer said. The plaintiffs allege that Pfizer's advertising of the drug created billions of dollars in unnecessary drug spending among the two patient groups. They cited a study of 2,000 women, which concluded that those taking Lipitor actually suffered 10% more heart attacks than those taking a placebo. The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for women and seniors and third-party payers who bought Lipitor "unnecessarily." Lipitor sales amounted to $10.86 billion in 2004, almost 21% Pfizer’s total revenue and, although it is not clear how much of that figure is attributable to the two groups that are the subjects of the class-action, damages could run into the billions if the suit is successful.
At Lawcash.com, it is our goal to keep you informed about important legal cases, class actions and settlements. Our lawyers offer free legal evaluations in tort cases, class actions, personal injury, and other lawsuits because we are dedicated to helping you resolve your legal complaints. Other Drugs / Medical Cases of Interest Bonds are normally a very safe investment vehicle. Several class actions have been filed against numerous parties connected to eleven municipal bond offerings in California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas on behalf of persons who purchased the bonds between December 1996 and March 1999. The $130,000,000+ in bonds related to Heritage Healthcare, were to be used to acquire, renovate, and reopen former hospitals in the states as facilities designed to assist elderly persons-- instead, the funds were allegedly diverted and misused so that all of the facilities went into bankruptcy shortly after the bond offerings. Ontario hospital sued for $50 million over C. difficile outbreak. A $50 million class-action lawsuit has been launched against a Toronto-area hospital where 177 patients contracted the potentially deadly bacteria C. difficile during an outbreak last year. A class action has been filed against chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturer Cambrex Corporation (NYSE: CBM) and certain of its officers and directors by stockholders who purchased the company's common stock between October 21, 1998, and July 25, 2003. KGS is investigating lawsuits related to the cholesterol-lowering drugs Zetia (ezetimibe) and Vytorin (a combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin). Zetia was introduced in 2002, and by 2003, it was on the list of top-selling drugs with more than 4.2 million prescriptions written that year. The combination drug Vytorin was introduced one year later, in 2004, but the FDA reviewer of Vytorin recommended against approval of Vytorin. (For excerpts of the recommendation, see www.worstpills.org/public/newsletter.cfm?n_id=353)
A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of uninsured patients who received and were billed for medical care by any hospital within the Oregon based Legacy Health Systems network of hospitals. The suit contents that Legacy billed its uninsured patients at rates far in excess of the rates employed for insured patients and that this practice was and is both discriminatory and illegal. A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of uninsured patients who received and were billed for medical care by any hospital within the South Dakota based Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System network of hospitals. The suit contends that Sioux Valley billed its uninsured patients at rates far in excess of the rates employed for insured patients and that this practice was and is both discriminatory and illegal. |
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