Settlement reached in AstraZeneca case
Connecticut is getting $1.2 million as part of a $68.5 million settlement by three-dozen states with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals L.P. over its marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel.
According to Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, it was the largest-ever multistate settlement with a drug company over a consumer protection issue.
States say AstraZeneca marketed Seroquel for unapproved uses, did not disclose the drug”™s potential side effects and withheld negative information from safety studies.
State has lower Alzheimer”™s mortality rate
Some 70,000 people in Connecticut have Alzheimer”™s disease, according to a report by the Alzheimer”™s Association, and 764 residents died of the disease in 2007.
Connecticut”™s Alzheimer”™s mortality rate of nearly 22 deaths per 100,000 residents ranked among the dozen lowest nationally; Alaska, Nevada and New York led the nation for the lowest mortality rate.
The association estimated that Connecticut residents afflicted with Alzheimer”™s received uncompensated services from some 170,000 caregivers valued at $2.3 billion.
Health Net in another security inquiry
Attorney General George Jepsen said personal information on some 25,000 Connecticut residents may have been compromised, after Health Net was unable to account for several server drives at an office in Rancho Cordova, Calif.
Health Net agreed to a $250,000 settlement in 2009 after a laptop went missing from its former office in Shelton, containing personal information on Connecticut members. Health Net sold its Connecticut business last year to UnitedHealth Group Inc., which was not cited by Jepsen.
The Rancho Cordova incident involved mostly Medicare subscribers, although some 5,600 commercial subscribers also may have been affected.
”“ Alexander Soule
