Insurers May Pursue RICO Claim Over GSK’s Avandia Marketing

A new Third Circuit decision saying three health insurers have standing to pursue federal racketeering claims over GlaxoSmithKline’s alleged deceptive marketing of Avandia “makes RICO a more important tool for challenging institutional misconduct,” an attorney for the plaintiff insurance funds says (In re Avandia Mktg., Sales Prac. & Prod. Liab. Litig., 2015 BL 351108, 3d Cir., 14-1948, 10/26/15).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said Oct. 26 that the insurance funds adequately alleged they suffered a concrete economic injury by asserting that the maker’s misrepresentations about Avandia’s heart-related risks caused them to pay too much ...