You can find copies of the lawsuits States have filed here:
www.psychsearch.net/lawsuits.html along with newspaper articles about
the lawsuit.

10 States have sued Eli Lilly regarding Zyprexa: Alaska, Connecticut,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
5 states have sued Janssen regarding Risperdal: Arkansas, Louisiana,
Pennsylvana, South Carolina and Texas
3 state has sued AstraZeneca regarding Seroquel: Arkansas,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina

Arkansas Residents Only - Letters to the editor here:
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/contact/voicesform/

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
State suit targets AstraZeneca over antipsychotic medicine
May 21, 2008
BY CAROLYNE PARK

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel filed suit
Tuesday against drug manufacturer AstraZeneca claiming the company
encouraged doctors to prescribe a dangerous drug to children and the
elderly for uses beyond its federal approval, harming patients and
costing the state millions of dollars.
The suit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court claims London-based
AstraZeneca PLC and four of its related companies in the U.S. and
abroad misled doctors and the public to increase sales of the
antipsychotic drug Seroquel, even though the company knew people
taking it were at risk of injury, disease and sickness.

AstraZeneca is the last of three major drug companies the state is
suing with claims they illegally marketed the antipsychotic drugs
Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel to be paid for by the state Medicaid
and employee health-insurance programs.
McDaniel filed suit against Titusville, N.J.-based Janssen
Pharmaceutica of Johnson &Johnson Inc., in November 2006 and Eli Lilly
& Co. of Indianapolis on May 1. McDanielÂ’s office is working on the
cases with the help of private firm Bailey Perrin Bailey LLP of
Houston, which is handling similar suits in at least six other states.

“We want to send a message that these pharmaceutical companies need to
walk a straightline when theyÂ’re dealing with Arkansas and other
states because the health and safety of consumers across this country
depend on that,” said Justin Allen, chief deputy attorney general.

Arkansas is one of several states, including Pennsylvania, Connecticut
and South Carolina,suing the companies in hopes of recouping Medicaid
payments for the drugs and for treatment of patients who suffered ill
effects after taking them.

Eli Lilly settled its case with Alaska in the midst of a jury trial in
March for $15 million.

AstraZeneca spokesman Jim Minnick said Tuesday the company couldnÂ’t
comment about ArkansasÂ’ lawsuit because officials had not been
notified of its filing or had a chance to review it.

“Seroquel has helped millions of people suffering from mental illness
and has made a meaningful difference in their lives,” Minnick said.

Seroquel was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for
treatment of adults with schizophrenia in September 1997. In 2004 it
was approved for treatment of adults with acute mania and in 2006 for
major depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Aside from its approved uses, the lawsuit claims the company also
marketed the drug for nonmedically necessary uses including
sleeplessness, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, depression,
anxiety, mood disorder, and aggression associated with late-onset
dementia.

Seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic, also known as second generation
antipsychotics. Such drugs first came on the market in the 1990s as an
alternative to “typical” antipsychotics, which cause physical
problems, such as spasms or involuntary movement, according to the
lawsuit.

Today atypical antipsychotics account for more than 90 percent of all
drugs prescribed for psychiatric purposes, regardless of whether they
are approved for those indications.

Seroquel is the fastest-growing atypical antipsychotic in terms of
sales, according to the lawsuit.

AstraZeneca failed to properly warn consumers that the drug had the
potential to cause diabetes, stroke, pancreatitis, seizures and other
illnesses, according to the lawsuit. The FDA reprimanded AstraZeneca
in May 1999 and October 2006 for giving misleading information about
the drug.

Allen said the state Medicaid program spent about $200 million on
Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel since they came onto the market.

“We believe that the evidence will bear out that a largemajority of
that $200 million was improperly paid for improper prescriptions of
those drugs - not based on the fault of the physicians, but based on
the off-label marketing efforts of the companies in pushing those
drugs to be given to people to whom they shouldn’t be given,” Allen
said.

According to the lawsuit, AstraZeneca violated several state laws by
engaging in “a protracted and willful course of corporate misconduct
and misrepresentation.”

The state is charging Astra-Zeneca with eight counts including
Medicaid fraud, which entitles the state to triple damages, and
violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, for which the
state could receive up to $10,000 for each of “many, many violations,”
he said.

“Several hundred million webelieve the state could ultimately prove up
in damages in trial,” Allen said.

Allen said the AstraZeneca filing was delayed because attorneys for
the company contacted the state about the case but “that dialogue
recently came to a close.”

“There were discussions of the issues,” Allen said “It’s safe to say
that given that weÂ’re filing suit, certainly no resolution was
reached.”

Eli Lilly has until early June to respond to ArkansasÂ’ lawsuit.

Janssen attempted to move its case with the state to federal court,
but it was remanded back to state court about a month ago, Allen said.
The case is now undergoing discovery as the company and state exchange
information and documents.

It will be at least a year before any of the cases go to trial, Allen
said. A trial is expected to take six to eight weeks.

“This is not going to be a quick process. It’s going to take time and
a lot of work by this office and this officeÂ’s lawyers, but weÂ’re
hopeful it will reveal some bad improper behavior by these companies
that was injurious not only to the Medicaid program, but potentially
to consumers in Arkansas,” Allen said.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/3mfua8