Briefs: Pfizer $142 million fine upheld; Bristol-Myers shuts Amylin facility

The US Court of Appeals in Boston has upheld a $142.1 million damage award to Kaiser Foundation Health Plan over pharma behemoth Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) marketing of its epilepsy drug Neurontin (gabapentin). It also found a lower-court judge erred in refusing to allow so-called “third- party payers,” such as health insurers and union funds, to combine their Neurontin racketeering claims, report Bloomberg and other US media.

Earlier this year, Judge Patti Saris of US District Court in Boston upheld last year’s jury finding that the Kaiser Foundation and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals deserved the award over their claims that Pfizer illegally promoted Neurontin for unapproved uses (The Pharma Letter January 31). Kaiser officials claimed they were misled into believing that migraines and bipolar disorder could be treated effectively with Neurontin, approved in 1993 by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of epileptic seizures. Kaiser claimed it was forced to pay $90 million more than it should have for the drug.

In related appeals, the panel of appellate judges also revived similar claims from insurer Aetna and class action allegations from Harden Manufacturing Corp, restoring lawsuits that had been thrown out by a lower court. Pfizer said in a in a statement reported by Reuters that it believes "there was no basis in fact or law" for the awards in the Kaiser case. In the Aetna and Harden cases, Pfizer said it believed the lower court's dismissals were the right move and that it "disagrees with the conclusions" of the appeals court. "We are exploring our appellate options in all three of these cases," the company said.