High Court Shoots Down GSK’s Bid to Dismiss Lawsuits Over Diabetes Drug

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied GlaxoSmithKline’s bid to throw out lawsuits from union health and welfare funds alleging the drugmaker caused them to pay too much for its diabetes medication Avandia by misrepresenting the medicine’s cardiac risks.

In a series of claims between 2007 and 2010, the Allied Services Division Welfare Fund, UFCW Local 1776 and Participating Employers Health and Welfare Fund and United Benefit Fund all accused the British drug giant of failing to disclose the risk information, entitling them to recovery under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

SCOTUS’ denial upholds an October 2015 decision from the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals which held that the third-party payors could plausibly allege that GSK’s representations had an “inflationary effect” on the drug’s price.