Seroquel Settlements Reached in 5,500 Diabetes Lawsuits: Report

Faced with the prospect of thousands of trials spread out across the country, AtraZeneca has started to settle Seroquel lawsuits. The drug maker has reportedly reached agreements in recent weeks to resolve over 5,500 cases filed by individuals who allege that side effects of Seroquel caused them to develop diabetes and other injuries. 

According to a report this week by Bloomberg News, AstraZeneca has agreed to pay around $55 million in Seroquel settlements so far as part of court ordered mediation, and the drug maker is attempting to settle cases with an average payout of about $10,000 each.

Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) is an atypical-antipsychotic that is a top selling drug for AstraZeneca, generating nearly $5 billion a year in sales. Originally approved by the FDA in 1997 for the treatment of schizophrenia, it has been frequently prescribed off-label for uses that were not approved as safe and effective at the time, such as anxiety, obsessive dementia, compulsive disorders and autism.

According to a recent AstraZeneca earnings report to investors (pdf), the drug maker faced was defending 10,456 Seroquel suits filed on behalf of 22,513 plaintiff groups as of March 31, 2010. Approximately 70% of the cases are currently pending in state courts, primarily in Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Alabama. The remaining 30% were consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation. However, in recent months, the federal judge overseeing the MDL has begun remanding hundreds of Seroquel cases back to the various district courts throughout the country where they were originally filed for trial.

As of the end of June, AstraZeneca had paid about $711 million in legal defense costs fighting Seroquel product liability lawsuits.