Judge Says Fund's Off-Label Promotion Claims Don't Implicate FDCA

PHILADELPHIA - State law claims arising from off-label promotion of three atypical antipsychotic drugs do not conflict with federal laws governing prescription drug labeling such that a state benefit fund's lawsuit accusing the drugs' manufacturers of fraud and failure to warn belong in federal court, a judge has ruled. Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund v. Eli Lilly & Company Inc., et al., No. 07-2057 (E.D. Pa.).

In an Oct. 5 decision, Judge Gene E.K. Pratter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania instead ruled that state law allegations that the drug companies illegally marketed their drugs …