Whistleblowers Allege AstraZeneca Paid Nurses to Do ‘White-Coat Marketing’

A newly unsealed lawsuit accuses AstraZeneca of using nurses to covertly promote its products, echoing a similar complaint against AbbVie.

The whistleblower lawsuit was originally filed in September 2017 in the Western District of Washington. It was unsealed Monday after the Justice Department declined to intervene.

The complaint alleges AstraZeneca deployed nurses to illegally recommend the blood thinner Brilinta (ticagrelor), the diabetes drug Bydureon (exenatide) and the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol) to doctors and patients under the guise of offering expert advice, according to two ex-employees of the firm that hired the nurses.