Executive Summary
The company is the Swedish – British multinational that deals with pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals and other drug related services. It is headquartered in London United Kingdom. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases which includes for instance like cancer, respiratory, neuroscience, inflammation and cardiovascular and numerous vaccinations which are used all over the world.
The company is currently involved in much litigation concerning its products. Some of the cases are still pending and ongoing in various courts. They include;
- Product litigations some which have been settled and others have not; where we can take an example of Seroquel drug product manufactured by the company which has numerous lawsuits in which some litigations have been settled and others are still pending in courts not yet finalized.
- Management Lawsuits which involve the company and its employees or between employees themselves but involving the company. An example is the fraud case involving one of the chief executive officer of defrauding the company a lot of money and being involved in sexual harassment to female co workers.
- Government lawsuits. This are cases involving the government agencies and AstraZeneca. An example is where the company was sued by the UK government over tax issues. The company also was sued in a case involving doping in cycling by the sports agencies through using the drugs manufactured by the company which were not yet released for commercial use. The cyclist tested positive.
History of AstraZeneca
A group of doctors who were roughly 400 doctors and Apothecaries in 1913 founded a company called Astra AB in a town called Sodertalje in Sweden. It operated its pharmaceutical business in Sweden from that date onwards. In 1993, a British company which deals with chemicals called ICI demerged its agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and specialty business to form Zeneca group in UK.
In the year 1999, Astra AB and Zeneca group came together and merged to form AstraZeneca Company with its headquarters in London. From that time the company has been operating under the new name and its operations from London UK it is more expanding and is still expanding moving all over the world by opening more branches and engaging in mergers and acquiring more other companies doing the same business together. This is the reason it is widening its subsidiary base all over the world and acquiring many subsidiary companies in many parts like in the United States of America.
AstraZeneca Subsidiaries
There are many subsidiaries companies or groups all over the world that AstraZeneca has acquired as subsidiaries. It has also opened many branches worldwide. The following are the main subsidiary companies that have been acquired by AstraZeneca Company:
- Takeda Respiratory Business
This is a company which is based in Japan that was acquired by AstraZeneca in April 2016 at a cost of $575 million. The company manufactures and develops all drugs mostly relating to the respiratory system or therapeutics. It helps to sell these drugs to all over the world and upon acquiring it; it became one of the main subsidiaries of AstraZeneca.
- Acerta Pharma
This is the company which is located in California United States which deals with the discovery of drugs and the development services for autoimmune and oncology diseases. AstraZeneca acquired this company in December 2015 for a cost of $60 million. The company has helped AstraZeneca on the field of oncology so much producing almost all drugs concerning the oncology diseases and its related services with also doing research on the same.
- Arrow Therapeutics
This is a small pharmaceutical company that deals and focuses on the discovery of Novel anti infective. It based in London, United Kingdom. It was acquired by AstraZenica Company in February 2007 at a cost of $40 million.
- Pearl Therapeutics
This is a company located in Redwood City of California United States. It was acquired by AstraZeneca in June 2013 at a cost of $247 million. The Pearl Therapeutics Company deals with the treatment of respiratory diseases and it develops a combination of products for the treatment of the same which also includes obstructive pulmonary chronic disease.
- ZS Pharma
This company’s task is to develop the ion therapies which are used to treat some life threatening condition which are very dangerous like the liver diseases and hyperkalemia. It was acquired in November 2015 at a cost of $123 and it is located in Texas United States.
- Omthera Pharmaceuticals
This company was acquired in May 2013 at a cost of $60 million and it located in New Jersey United States. The company develops therapies for those patients who have elevated triglyceride levels and also the high risk of the common cardiovascular diseases.
- MedImmune
This is a company wholly owned by AstraZeneca Company as one of the main subsidiaries which was purchased in 2007 for $15.6 billion. It is highly considered as one of the major subsidiary of AstraZeneca. It is located in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. This company produces two main drugs i.e. Synagis which is a drug used to prevent respiratory infections in children and infants and the drug FluMist which is a vaccine for Nasal spray influenza.
Popular AstraZeneca Products
There are many products that are manufactured and distributed by AstraZeneca Company. They are used to treat different ailments in the body. They include the following;
- Seroquel
This is one the major products of AstraZeneca Company which is used to treat the disorders of Schizophrenia and Biplar. It gives so much high turnout in terms of sales and regarded as one of the major products AstraZeneca is selling currently.
- Crestor
This is another major AstraZeneca product that is in the market. It is used as anti cholesterol drug. Although facing a lot of completion, it is one the major sales of the company is enjoying at the moment.
- Nexium
This is the drug used for stomach ulcer and heartburn. It sold all over the world and ranked among the top products that is manufactured and sold by AstraZeneca Company. It has also a high sales turnout per year and among the top selling products of the company.
- Symbicort
This is one of the best selling drugs of the respiratory system and is used to treat asthma. It is one of AstraZeneca’s best drug and gives high sales turnout and ranked among the best products of the Company.
- Arimidex
It is among the top best selling drugs of AstraZeneca although facing a lot of generic competition. It a drug used to treat breast cancer and does well in terms of turnover sales for the company.
AstraZeneca Product Recalls and Lawsuits
- Recall of Brilinta 90ml Tablets
In May 2017, the company made a voluntary recall of Brilinta 90ml tablets in bottles of 8 tablets as a precautionally measure. This recall was due to a report that the professional sample bottle which containing the 8 tablets also contains in it another 200mg tablet medicine produced by the company too called Zurampic. This recall measure was limited to United States only and for the bottles that were supplied to the doctors and physicians between the month of March and April 2017. This recall did not affect Zurampic and other forms of Brilinta apart from the 8 bottled tablets.
- Recall of 8 Lots of LYNPARZA (Olaparib) Capsules
In February 2018, AstraZeneca made a voluntary recall of 8 lots of Olaparib capsules, 50mg which were 112 per bottle. This was due to the elevated levels of attribute quality polymorph. These affected lots were distributed to the market between the date of 22nd November 2016 and 20th December 2017. Other lots outside these dates were not affected at all. The overall risk after full assessment is none.
- Texas Lawsuit Claiming AstraZeneca pushed Antipsychotic to kids
The company is still litigating to settle down this case where it was sued for targeting states’ Medicaid program by directing doctors to prescribe the power antipsychotic seroquel to children over six years which was unauthorized.
AstraZeneca Settlements
The company has been involved in many lawsuits others which are ongoing and others have been settled. The following are fully settled litigation either through payment or cases dismissed. They include:
- The Seroquel Liability settlement;
In April 2010, the company settled a lawsuit which was brought by Stefan Kruszewski totaling for $520 million for settlement of allegations of defrauding Medicaid, Medicare and other state funded programs which came about through the company’s promotional and marketing practices for Seroquel.
In the year 2011 march, the company settled a lawsuit amounting to $68.5 million which was divided between 38 states involved in the United States.
- Whistleblower lawsuit settlement
AstraZeneca agreed to settle and pay whistleblower $7.9 million in February 2015. This was to resolve allegations that the company in the form of price concessions paid kickbacks to Medico Health solutions benefit manager to give AstraZeneca’s drugs like Nexium exclusive and sole status. It offered price concessions on other company drugs like Prilosec and plendil.
- Tax Dispute
In the year 2010, AstraZenica in its transfers made a mistake in pricing which resulting to tax avoidance. The company agreed to settle this UK tax dispute and paid $505 million in full settlement.
Sources:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/8208884/AstraZeneca-five-best-selling-drugs.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AstraZeneca#Controversies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AstraZeneca#History
https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/astrazeneca-agrees-settle-whistleblower-lawsuit-7-9-million/
Tracy Everhart
Tracy Everhart is the Editor for Drug Law Journal. A highly-trained and certified medical professional, Tracy is also an accomplished medical writer. After spending years on the front lines of the medical profession, Tracy now devotes her expertise and skills to researching and reporting on new drugs and devices that enter the market, as well as their side-effects and the real-life stories involved. Prior to joining Drug Law Journal, Tracy wrote for benchmark online healthcare resources focused on families and, in particular, women’s health issues. Tracy holds post-graduate degrees from both the American College of Healthcare Sciences and the Yale School of Nursing. She is also a graduate of both Hampshire College, where she studied microbiology and the University of South Carolina school of nursing.