November 16, 2012 — The pharmaceutical drug company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to settle lawsuits with 38 state attorney generals’ offices who alleged that the company improperly marketed Avandia, a diabetes drug. The drug was pulled from the market in 2011 after the FDA linked it to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. Many lawsuits have alleged that GSK intentionally withheld this risk information to encourage sales of the drug.
As a condition of the settlement, GSK will not have to admit guilt in the lawsuits. The company will, however, be required to change the way they market diabetes drugs in the future. GSK will be prohibited from:
- Promoting any diabetes drug with misleading, false, or deceptive marketing claims
- Comparing diabetes drugs with claims that are not backed up by clinical evidence
- Promoting their drug with favorable clinical data that has been invalidated by newer clinical data.
- Promoting investigational drugs.
- Misrepresenting the nature, applicability, or significance of clinical trials
- Misusing statistics from clinical trials
GSK will also be required to make clinical studies of their diabetes drugs more transparent. This will involve notifying the federal government of studies, posting summaries of the studies, and obeying international rules regarding standards for medical journal publications.
A total of 38 states will be receiving settlements in the litigation, including: Oregon, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
In July 2012, GSK pled guilty to federal charges that they intentionally misrepresented safety data for Avandia and defrauded the healthcare system. The company will pay $3 billion, the largest healthcare fraud settlement ever imposed on a drug company.
Do I have an Avandia Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting Avandia induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know has been injured by Avandia, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Product Liability & Defective Drug Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
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