Lousiana AG Sues Pfizer Over A "Fraudulent Zoloft Scheme"

Citing allegedly deceptive studies and a surreptitious marketing campaign, the Louisiana Attorney General has filed a lawsuit claiming that Pfizer fraudulently marketed its Zoloft antidepressant and caused the state Medicaid program to unnecessarily issue reimbursements for the drug. The lawsuit accuses the drugmaker of knowing there were “serious issues” with Zoloft efficacy and that early clinical studies demonstrated its pill was no better than a placebo. But Pfizer allegedly concealed this from regulators, physicians and patients with an elaborate scheme that included ghostwritten articles that were published in medical journals and a deceptive advertising initiative, according to the lawsuit. “Pfizer engaged and continues to engage in a deliberate, systematic practice of suppressing unfavorable results for its drug and misleading the state, healthcare providers, consumers and policy makers about the actual efficacy of its drug,” according to the lawsuit. “The defendant caused thousands of false and deceptive claims to be made to the state by manipulating published efficacy data, paying key opinion leaders to bolster Zoloft’s efficacy and deceptively concealing Zoloft’s inefficacy" (here is the lawsuit). Pfizer is currently facing numerous personal injury lawsuits in state and federal courts that allege Zoloft was responsible for birth defects, among other things. However, this appears to be the first case filed by a state attorney general charging that the ...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs