AstraZeneca faces law suits similar to Eli Lilly’s
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| Topics: medication, pharmaceutical
Bloomberg News reports that British pharmaceutical, AstraZeneca, maker of blockbuster Seroquel, faces lawsuits from 10,000 people alleging that the medicine caused weight gain leading to the risk of diabetes. Competitor Eli Lilly has been entangled in a similar charge over its drug Zyprexa. Last year Seroquel passed Zyprexa as the top selling atypical antipsychotic on the market, earning $3.4 billion, up from $66 million in 1998. As an explanation for the dramatic increase in market share, patients cited “aggressive marketing” in their law suit which will be heard in federal court in Orlando, Florida. A company spokesman said AstraZeneca would vigorously defend the charges.
