Plaintiff Loses In First Seroquel Trial To Go To Jury Verdict

It’s been reported that the first Seroquel trial to go to jury verdict anywhere in the country has resulted in a loss for the plaintiff, with jurors voting 7-1 on Wednesday that AstraZeneca, Seroquel’s manufacturer, adequately warned the plaintiff’s doctors about Seroquel’s putting the plaintiff at an elevated risk for diabetes.
Seroquel is a pharmaceutical most often used to treat patients for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other mental illnesses, but is frequently also prescribed as a sedative and as a treatment for restless leg syndrome. Seroquel is AstraZeneca’s second-biggest selling drug.
A number of people prescribed Seroquel have filed lawsuits against AstraZeneca, claiming that the drug maker failed to warn adequately that the drug can lead to diabetes and pancreatitis.
The Seroquel lawsuits filed in federal court have all been consolidated into a single class action, however, individual lawsuits have proceeded in various state courts. This Seroquel defense action was one such case; it was filed on behalf of a single plaintiff in New Jersey.
It should be noted that verdict does not mean that the jury found that Seroquel does not cause diabetes. What the jury was simply supposed to consider was the question of whether AstraZeneca, Seroquel’s makers, adequately warned the patient’s doctors of the risks in the materials they provided the doctors.
In October of 2009, AstraZeneca settled two whistleblower lawsuits about Seroquel for $520 million and agreed to enter into a “Corporate Integrity” agreement with the United States Department of Justice. The allegations raised by the company’s internal whistleblower concern clinical trials of Seroquel but are otherwise confidential. Should the details of these cases also become public, we will report on that. In the meantime, we will keep you posted as these Seroquel cases reach jury verdict in other states.

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