AstraZeneca to pay state $11M

ATLANTA - Georgia will receive more than $11 million as part of a sweeping settlement with pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca that resolved allegations of illegal marketing of the company's antipsychotic drug Seroquel.

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker says about $4 million of the funds are state dollars and the rest is the federal share of Georgia's Medicaid recovery.

The money is part of a $520 million settlement announced Tuesday in Washington by Attorney General Eric Holder.

Prosecutors say AstraZeneca marketed Seroquel for off-label uses not approved by federal drug regulators including insomnia and psychiatric conditions other than schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/4/228974