AstraZeneca Nexium Marketing

Hagens Berman filed a lawsuit on behalf of consumers who purchased Nexium. The suit contends that the drug's distributor, AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), conspired to redirect consumer loyalty from their highly profitable heartburn medication, Prilosec, to Nexium before Prilosec's patent expired and generic competition drove the price down.

According to the suit, AstraZeneca deceived consumers through a misleading advertising campaign, designed to convince consumers that Nexium was a new and improved heartburn drug.

The suit states that throughout AstraZeneca's advertising for Nexium, it alluded to clinical trials that proved Nexium's effectiveness over Prilosec. However, the trials referred to only tested Nexium at levels twice that of Prilosec, and thus were not a true indication of Nexium's effectiveness.

As detailed in the complaint, Nexium is a "mirror compound" of Prilosec, containing the same active molecule found in Prilosec. The suit contends that there is no evidence to support that Nexium is substantially better than Prilosec.

According to the suit, AstraZeneca's plan proved profitable. As generic competition drove the price for Prilosec down, sales for Nexium rose to $3.3 billion by 2003. Currently, Prilosec can be obtained over the counter and costs about one-eighth of the cost of Nexium.

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Hagens Berman is one of the most successful litigation law firms in the U.S. taking on pharmaceutical companies and has achieved more than $320 billion in settlements against Big Pharma largest sellers and manufacturers for antitrust schemes, pay-for-delay, IP shams and other forms of wrongdoing that drive up the costs of prescription drugs for consumers and others.