AstroZeneca Settles Nearly 4,000 Seroquel Injury Claims

AstraZeneca PLC said July 29 that it has agreed in principle to settle with nearly 4,000 Seroquel product liability plaintiffs.

The company said settlement terms are confidential.

In notes to its second-quarter financial report, AstraZeneca said that as of July 27, mediation ordered by Judge Anne C. Conway in the Seroquel multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida "has resulted in agreements in principle on monetary terms, subject to various subsequent conditions, approvals and agreement on non-monetary terms, with the attorneys representing nearly 4,000 claimants."

As of June 29, AstraZeneca said it was defending against 10,363 served or answered Seroquel lawsuits in the United States involving 22,412 plaintiff groups. It said about 72 percent of the cases are in state courts, primarily Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Alabama. The remaining 28 percent are in the MDL court.

As of July 8, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation reported that there were 6,217 active MDL cases, down from a high of 8,187.

Claims of about 1,000 plaintiffs are consolidated in one federal court in California, AstraZeneca said.

In addition, AstraZeneca said it is aware of about 176 additional cases representing about 3,661 plaintiffs that have been filed but not yet served. It said some of the cases involve other drug manufacturers, such as Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and/or Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

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Astrazeneca Settles Nearly 4,000 Seroquel Injury Claims, Terms Confidential