Mental Health Blogs

As I noted yesterday, a few plaintiffs’ cases against AstraZeneca over accusations that its antipsychotic Seroquel caused diabetes have been dismissed in Delaware Superior Court recently partly due to a judge’s finding that one expert witness could not establish a link between the drug and diabetes. It sure made one wonder where the many thousands of other Seroquel cases were headed.

Now a judge in US District Court in Florida, where about 6,000 Seroquel cases currently reside, has ruled that AZ cannot exclude the testimony of a separate plaintiffs expert witness who will argue a link between the drug and diabetes in some patients. Donna Arnett, professor and chairwoman of the epidemiology department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, argues that Seroquel causes metabolic changes, which can lead to diabetes.

The ruling affects only cases in federal court.

According to Bloomberg, Tony Jewell, an AZ spokesman, said in an emailed statement:

“‘The heart of these cases are unproven claims that Seroquel causes diabetes in individual patients.’

“‘Judges at both the federal and state levels have dismissed the initial cases prepared for trial, concluding that plaintiffs did not have sufficient evidence to establish that Seroquel was responsible for their alleged injuries,’ he said. ‘In the cases prepared for trial to date, plaintiffs have been repeatedly unable to prove their claims in court.’”

Yes, but none of those cases have gone to trial to date or been heard by a jury. It’s beginning to look as though at least some cases will go to trial, unless AZ’s lawyers have further rabbits to pull out of the hat.

In an Arnett deposition released earlier this year, she called Seroquel unsafe, said it led to an increased risk of diabetes and that it hadn’t helped the majority of patients in clinical trials as the majority of patients in clinical trials for the drug had dropped out of the trials.

It will indeed be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

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Related posts:

1. AstraZeneca Denied Seroquel Diabetes Link After Warning Of It In Japan
2. Is Seroquel Litigation Going Down The Toilet?
3. AstraZeneca Exec Was Pressed To Lie About Seroquel Weight Gain
4. AstraZeneca Defends Seroquel Weight Gain Warnings
5. Seroquel Documents: Criminals Led Seroquel Clinical Trials