Consumers File Nexium Class Action Lawsuit Against AstraZeneca
Source: PR Newswire
Published: October 18, 2004
Europe's second-largest drugmaker AstraZeneca is being sued by a coalition of consumer activists who claim its blockbuster heartburn drug, Nexium, the Purple Pill, is no more effective than its over-the-counter drug Prilosec.
The coalition on Monday filed a class action lawsuit against AstraZeneca, alleging that the company sought to reserve its market share and profits as the patent on Prilosec was set to expire, by initiating a massive and misleading advertising and promotional campaign to deceive consumers into purchasing Nexium, a nearly identical new drug.
The suit, filed in U.S. Superior Court in Los Angeles by the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Congress of California Seniors, and the California Alliance for Retired Americans, claims that AstraZeneca is violating California's Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law by engaging in deceptive and unfair practices in the marketing and promotion of Nexium.
"AstraZeneca knew that with the expiration of their Prilosec patent, they would lose market share and profits," Steve Berman, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said. "We intend to show that they initiated a plan to deceive consumers and recoup those lost revenues."
The class action was brought on behalf of all consumers nationwide who purchased Nexium.
"AstraZeneca pulled a massive 'bait and switch' on the American public," Nan Brasmer, President of the California Alliance for Retired Americans, said. "Rather than looking for new drugs that would be real improvements for patients, they poured millions of dollars into promoting a drug that was far more expensive but no better than equally effective generic drugs."
Prilosec (also known as Losec) is a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) used to treat heartburn and was AstraZeneca's most profitable drug. By 2000, Prilosec was the most prescribed drug in the world, with global sales reaching $6 billion. But with Prilosec's patent set to expire in 2001, its loss of brand name protection and assured competition from generic drug manufacturers posed a financial vulnerability to the pharmaceutical company, attorneys for the plaintiffs contend.
According to the suit, AstraZeneca responded to this financial threat by launching a massive advertising campaign to overshadow the perceived effectiveness of Prilosec, and persuade consumers that Nexium was a new and improved PPI. The ads claimed that Nexium was proven more effective at acid inhibition than comparable drugs, the suit states. However, the clinical trials alluded to in these ads only compared Nexium at dosage levels twice those of Prilosec (40 mg to 20 mg respectively). No tests were done to compare 40 mg of Nexium to 40 mg of Prilosec.
"Our case will show that AstraZeneca needed to manipulate consumers into believing that Nexium was better than Prilosec, so they loaded the dice to validate their claims," said Steve Berman. "The evidence will show that the drug company knew that comparing the two drugs at equal dosages would show that Nexium did not work better than Prilosec, so they conveniently left that information out."
As detailed in the complaint, Nexium is a "mirror compound" of Prilosec, containing the same active molecule found in Prilosec.
"What AstraZeneca did with Nexium is symptomatic of the drug industry in the United States today," said Gary Passmore, a spokesman for the Congress of California Seniors. "They are more concerned with profits than with health. But the public is waking up, and we will fight to hold drug companies accountable when they illegally deceive consumers."
Nexium sales in 2003 were $3.3 billion
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