Television and print ads continually tout the impression that pharmaceutical companies have the consumers’ best interests at heart. Yet, many of these same drug makers are being fined for engaging in deceptive marketing practices and failing to warn consumers about known risks.

A Case In Point: Sanofi Fined $52.8M for Engaging in Deceptive Practices

French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi SA, has been fined $52.8 million (the equivalent of over 40 million euros) for attempting to reduce the sales of generic competitors of its blood thinner medication Plavix. According to Bloomberg News, France’s largest drug maker was fined by the Competition Authority (the French equivalent of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)) for misinforming doctors that they could be held liable to patients who suffer medical issues after taking generic drugs and for persuading them to indicate on prescriptions that cheaper generic brands could not be substituted by pharmacists. The company is also involved in a probe by the FDA about disclosures made to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice about Plavix.

Drug Makers’ Failure to Warn Also a Concern

Numerous pharmaceutical companies are also defending product liability lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege that they failed to warn consumers about known risks in order to increase sales.

Those companies include:

• Merck & Co. Merck & Co. was recently named in a whistleblower lawsuit, alleging that it offered huge discounts to Planned Parenthood to prescribe NuvaRing but violated federal law by not reporting those discounts to the government.
• Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. Bayer currently faces over 10,000 lawsuits alleging that its birth control drugs Yaz and Yasmin put women at a greater risk of developing deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and strokes.
• Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Takeda is currently defending numerous Actos bladder cancer lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege that the drug maker knew about the increased risks of bladder cancer but decided to withhold that information from consumers.

The Driscoll Firm, LLC, Can Help

Pharmaceutical companies have an obligation to consumers to manufacture and distribute safe drugs and to warn consumers about any known risks. Drug makers who don’t play by the rules can, and should, be held accountable. If you’ve been injured by a dangerous drug, contact The Driscoll Firm, LLC, to discuss your situation and let us evaluate your legal options. You may be entitled to compensation for lost wages, medical bills, medical monitoring and more.