Jury selection in the first Seroquel trial began Thursday, with opening statements set to begin Monday in a lawsuit filed by a Vietnam vet who says he developed diabetes after taking the blockbuster antipsychotic to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Seroquel diabetes lawsuit, brought by Ted Baker, is the first of an estimated 26,000 claims against AstraZeneca over side effects of Seroquel to reach a jury. The case will be heard by a group of five women and four men in New Jersey state court in New Brunswick.
Baker’s case will involve allegations similar to those raised by thousands of other individuals in state and federal cases filed throughout the country. The Seroquel lawsuits involve allegations that AstraZeneca failed to adequately warn users about the risks of weight gain from Seroquel, and the increased risk of diabetes and other serious injuries.
Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) is an atypical-antipsychotic that is a top selling drug for AstraZeneca, generating nearly $5 billion a year in sales. Approved by the FDA in 1997 for the treatment of schizophrenia, it is also commonly used off-label for treatment of anxiety, obsessive dementia, compulsive disorders and autism. Seroquel has been used by more than 19 million people worldwide.
All federal Seroquel lawsuits over diabetes are consolidated for pretrial litigation in an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, that is centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. In November, U.S. District Judge Anne Conway ordered lawyers for both sides to met with a mediator to see if there is any possibility for a Seroquel settlement before as many as 6,000 cases are sent back to the districts where they were originally filed for trial.
AstraZeneca has maintained that they intend to defend all cases. According to a report by Bloomberg News, AstraZeneca is expected to try to convince the jury that Seroquel did not cause diabetes for Baker, suggesting that his lifestyle was more likely the cause of his illness. Baker’s attorneys are likely to employ evidence that AstraZeneca covered up the weight gain side effects of the drugs to show that the drug maker knew for years that it caused weight and diabetes problems.
Internal documents produced during the litigation suggest that the drug maker was aware of the potential weight-gain Seroquel side effects and continued to promote the drug as weight-neutral for years after clinical evidence demonstrated significant problems that could lead to diabetes and other injuries.
The company has racked up $656 million in legal defense costs fighting the failure-to-warn lawsuits over Seroquel. In addition, Seroquel lawyers continue to file new cases for individuals who have developed diabetes, pancreatitis and a rare movement disorder known as tardive dyskinesia, so the cost of the litigation is expected to continue to increase.