California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit on Thursday against 39 pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of defrauding the state of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants attempted to maximize profits by engaging in insidious sales schemes to increase market share. Specifically, they provided false and misleading information with full knowledge […]

In the first of thousands of Vioxx lawsuits to go to trial, a Texas jury on Friday found Merck and Co. liable for the death of man taking its arthritis drug Vioxx and awarded his widow $253.5 million.
The jury awarded Mr. Robert Ernest’s widow Carol $24.5 million for mental anguish and loss of companionship and […]

The Food and Drug Administration has denied a petition by a consumer group to ban the prescription weight-loss drug Meridia (sibutramine) made by Abbott Laboratories Inc.
The petition, filed by Public Citizen in March 2002 and renewed in September 2003, asserted that Meridia was related to heart attacks and strokes. It cited 49 heart-related deaths and […]

Lawyers on both sides in the nation’s first Vioxx-related trial are expected to make their final arguments Wednesday, The Associated Press reported Monday.
The plaintiff, Carol Ernst, alleges that Merck and Co.’s painkiller Vioxx caused the sudden death of her husband, Robert Ernst, in May 2001 after he had taken the drug for eight months to […]

The Food and Drug Administration announced strengthen new regulations Friday for the acne drug Accutane-aimed at preventing use of the drug during pregnancy. Women who are pregnant or who might become pregnant should not take the drug, the Agency said.
Accutane (and its generics) is a highly effective drug for severe recalcitrant nodular acne, but it […]

In June 2005, Eli Lilly and company received a subpoena from Florida attorney general�s office seeking documents on Medicaid-related sales of the company�s Zyprexa and its marketing and promotional practices with respect to the schizophrenia drug. The subpoena came from the Medicaid Fraud Control unit of the state attorney general�s office, the company said in […]

Eighteen welding rod workers filed a class action lawsuit last month in Los Angeles Superior Court against Airco Inc., Caterpillar, Inc., General Electric Company and more than 55 other named defendants for alleged injuries caused by exposure to welding rod fumes.
The Plaintiffs claim they suffered serious neurological injuries as a consequence of exposure to welding […]