Back to News

By Herb Newborg, Source: The San Jose Mercury News

California County Sues Glaxo Over Avandia Risks
The county alleges Glaxo earned billions of dollars on Avandia and cited an estimate that the drug caused 60,000 to 200,000 heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths nationwide from 1999 to 2006.

Santa Clara County in California late last week filed what appears to be the first governmental lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline over links between its Avandia diabetes bill and cardiovascular risks, namely heart attacks, The San Jose Mercury News writes. The suit charges Glaxo falsely advertised the pill and concealed risks, and seeks compensation on behalf of patients and providers.

The county alleges Glaxo earned billions of dollars on Avandia and cited an estimate that the drug caused 60,000 to 200,000 heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths nationwide from 1999 to 2006. Tamara Lange, Santa Clara County’s lead deputy counsel, didn’t have an estimate for the number of deaths caused locally or the number of patients in Santa Clara County who took the drug.

But Lange did say local costs are higher than in many other areas because the county runs its own hospital and treats indigent patients. The county spent $2 million on Avandia from 1999 to mid-2007 for indigent patients and also absorbed the cost of treating heart patients whose problems could have been avoided had Glaxo warned of the risks, the county alleges. Last September, the county removed Avandia from its formulary, the paper notes.

The county was already considering a lawsuit, but was spurred on by the recently released FDA report. “We concluded it would really be in the interest of the people of California for a government entity to be out front challenging this sort of corporate behavior,” Lange tells the paper. The lawsuit seeks to recover costs incurred by anyone who purchased Avandia, including hospitals, clinics and counties.