Bad News for AstraZeneca on Seroquel Resumes After Brief Respite

(MoneyWatch)  AstraZeneca's cycle of good news regarding its antipsychotic Seroquel -- that it was winning early motions in the initial set of cases filed against it and that sales were still rising despite the controversies surrounding the drug -- may be coming to an end.

A new study suggests that patients on older schizophrenia medicines survive longer than those on Seroquel, Reuters reports, and The Boston Globe reports that homeless people have turned Seroquel into a sought-after street drug. Being name-dropped in a gruesome murder-suicide didn't help, either. That news comes after a federal court ruling that allowed a plaintiffs' expert to testify that Seroquel causes weight gain that can lead to diabetes. Previously, a state judge in Maryland had wondered whether it was even possible for plaintiffs to pass the standard allowing an expert to testify to such a link.

• Previously:
• Seroquel Lawyers: AstraZeneca Has Lulled Itself Into a False Sense of Security
• AstraZeneca Seems to Be Winning the War Against Seroquel
• AstraZeneca to Seroquel Patient: You Have Diabetes Because You're Black
• Seroquel Trial: More Emails From MacFadden, AZ's Sex-for-Studies Exec, Emerge
• AZ Seroquel Emails Detail Off-Label Promotion; What Did CEO Brennan Know?
• AstraZeneca Q1: Seroquel Sales Up; Faces 10,000 Lawsuits; Company Thinks It Will Beat the Rap
• AstraZeneca's "Smoke and Mirrors" Man Has New Job in Medical Writing
• AZ Seroquel Trial: Was It "Ghostwriting" or "Professional" Writing?
• AstraZeneca's Seroquel Research Director Confessed to Sex-for-Studies Affairs
• E-Mail: AstraZeneca Knew in 1997 that Seroquel Caused Weight Gain
• Exec Warned AZ on Negative Seroquel Results: "We Cannot Hide Them"; Info Later "Buried"
• AstraZeneca's Sex-for-Studies Seroquel Scandal: Did Research Chief Bias the Science?
• FDA Asks AZ to Tighten Seroquel Label; 9,000 Lawsuits Start Trials Next Week