The National Law Journal, "Suits Surge Against Makers of Anti-Psych Drug Seroquel"

          Plaintiffs filed more than 350 products liability cases last month in Delaware state court against AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals L.P. over the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel -- a surge exceeding the total number of cases filed there in the last two years. Plaintiffs lawyers contend that there is nothing behind the spike in filings. They point out that Delaware is Wilmington-based AstraZeneca's home state and that the cases would have been filed eventually anyway.
          But a defense observer expects that plaintiffs counsel may be trying to force AstraZeneca into an early settlement of the Delaware cases that would influence the settlement of the rest of the litigation -- and avoid the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Tampa, Fla. -- because Delaware is on a fast track for trial and discovery. The litigation arose from a label change ordered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2003, indicating that Seroquel users are at heightened risk of contracting diabetes. No link has been proven, but plaintiffs who took the drug before that date have claimed injury and say they were not adequately warned of this risk.
          Michael P. Kelly, the managing partner of Newark, N.J.-based McCarter & English's Wilmington office, who leads AstraZeneca's Seroquel defense team in Delaware state court, said that the company does not plan to settle the cases. "In boxing terms, we will go toe to toe -- no 'rope a dope' here. We stand behind Seroquel, which is a great product that has helped a lot of people," said Kelly. But Paul J. Pennock of Weitz & Luxenberg in New York, co-lead plaintiffs counsel in the federal Seroquel MDL, lead counsel in New Jersey and also involved in the Delaware litigation, called AstraZeneca's "scorched earth" approach "foolish." "We're going to take scorched earth back at them," Pennock said.