Missouri and Illinois will each get a piece of a $90 million settlement reached with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline LLC.
Missouri's portion of the settlement is just over $2 million, while Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says her state's portion is approximately $5 million.
The suit was over the marketing of diabetes drug Avandia. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, along with Madigan and 35 other attorneys general, allege that the marketing misrepresented the drug's cardiovascular risks and "safety profile." A release from Koster's office states that the drug was marketed as providing certain safety benefits - but without scientific evidence to back up those claims.
Koster's office says the money will go to his state's Missouri Merchandising Practices Fund. Madigan's office did not specify the resting place for Illinois' money from the settlement.
Nasdaq reports that the settlement is just the latest piece in a recent history of settlements based on marketing of drugs:
The agreement followed the company's separate $3 billion settlement with the federal government after it pleaded guilty to charges of illegally marketing drugs and withholding safety information earlier this year. The charges related to Avandia as well as two antidepressants, Wellbutrin and Paxil. U.S. prosecutors called that settlement the largest health-care fraud settlement in national history.
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