Suffolk County Courthouse
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Just before a class action trial was scheduled to begin, AstraZeneca has settled allegations that it deceptively marketed the heartburn medication Nexium.
The trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Suffolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts, but the two sides reached an agreement before that could happen, said David Siegel of Courtroom View Network.
CVN had planned to broadcast the two-week bench trial.
The plaintiffs argued AstraZeneca marketed Nexium as superior to another drug, Prilosec. They wanted restitution for the amounts they allegedly overpaid to buy Nexium instead of Prilosec.
They were not arguing that Nexium was unsafe in any way. AstraZeneca said physicians used their own judgments to prescribe Nexium, and that some patients saved money by purchasing Nexium instead of Prilosec.
Representing the plaintiffs was the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. The class is anyone who purchased Nexium in Massachusetts since March 2001.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien at jobrienwv@gmail.com.