Pfizer Rapamune Lawsuit: Pharma Giant's Subsidiary Accused Of Targeting 'High-Risk' Black Patients For Unapproved Use Of Drug: In a stunning whistleblower lawsuit, the world's largest pharmaceutical company is being sued over the dangerous practice of illegally promoting a kidney transplant drug for unapproved uses -- and targeting African-Americans, even though they are at high risk of complications.
Two former hospital sales representatives, Marlene Sandler and Scott Paris, originally filed their suit in 2005 but the case was recently unsealed. The amended complaint against Pfizer and Wyeth was filed this week, as reported by the Pharmalot blog.
Sandler and Paris claim that Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer, promoted the 'off-label' use of Rapamune, a kidney transplant drug which generated $376 million in sales in 2008, encouraging its sales force to promote the drug for heart, lung, liver, and pancreas transplants even though Rapamune was never approved for those procedures. The Food and Drug Administration warned against such off-label use of Rapamune in 2004 and 2007.
