Federal judge certifies class action lawsuit against Eli Lilly
A federal judge in California recently certified a class action lawsuit against Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Company and Japanese company Takeda Pharmaceuticals, alleging that the pharmaceutical companies engaged in fraud and violated anticorruption legislation by covering up the risk of bladder cancer from a diabetes drug.
The most recent order from a federal judge certified a national third-party payor class, meaning groups who provide an unrelated individual to receive services, like a health insurance company. Plaintiffs also requested for a California consumer class, meaning all consumers and groups in the state of California who paid for Actos between 1999 and now, but that request was denied.
The previously-filed lawsuit has been underway for several years. The complaint alleges Takeda and Lilly violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which is designed to fight organized crime. The RICO violation allegation will potentially allow for treble, or triple, damages to be awarded.
The plaintiffs claim Lilly and Takeda had "reason to know" about the dangers of bladder cancer from diabetes drug Actos, also known as pioglitazone, and falsely marketed the drug to avoid losing money. According to the complaint when the FDA issued its alert about Actos' link to increased bladder cancer risk in 2011, sales fell by 80%, a news release from law firm Wisner Baum, who's representing the plaintiffs, said.
Because of this fall in profits, the companies had more sales than they should have and the brunt of these sales were borne by health insurance and medical service providers — the third party payers in this case.
The plaintiffs include a Minnesota-based union healthcare fund as well as four named consumers from around the country. Writ large, the plaintiffs are now the third party payers who purchased an Actos prescription between July 1, 1999 and Sept. 17, 2010.
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The new class action is the latest development in a case that has been ongoing in some form since 2014. The RICO violation complaint was originally part of a group of cases, called multidistrict litigation, that alleged injury or harm from the use of Actos in the Western District Court of Louisiana.
The jury eventually ordered the two companies to pay a combined $9 billion in punitive damages from one landmark personal injury case, though that sum was later cut to $36.8 million, of which Lilly was declared liable for just over $9 million. Takeda eventually agreed to pay over $2.4 billion in damages to settle the rest of the cases alleging personal harm.
The Louisiana court ordered this RICO violation case, which alleges fraud and conspiracy, to be pulled out from the multidistrict litigation and referred to the Central District Court of California in 2017.
According to IndyStar archives, Lilly copromoted Actos in the U.S. with Takeda from 1999 to 2006, though the company no longer markets the drug.
Wisner Baum's news release said the class action lawsuit will move forward as soon as possible and that a trial will hopefully take place next year.
In a statement, a Lilly spokesperson said the company was, in part, pleased with the court's ruling in denying the California consumer class, stating that prescribing Actos required specific and individual evidence. However, the company takes issue with the court certifying the case as a class action on behalf of the third-party payers.
"We believe the court erred in certifying the national third-party payor class, and we intend to appeal this ruling," Lilly's statement said. "It is important to note that the Court’s ruling is preliminary and is not a determination of liability on merits of the case. Lilly feels confident that Plaintiff’s claims lack merit and we will continue to vigorously defend this matter."
Contact this reporter at 317-617-3402 or crafford@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Federal judge certifies class action lawsuit against Eli Lilly
