AstraZeneca in Seroquel lawsuit

AstraZeneca has had a lawsuit filed against it on behalf of three clients who said the organisation’s Seroquel caused their diabetes.

The antipsychotic drug – also known as quetiapine – was approved in 1997 and is used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Symptoms of the condition include mistaken beliefs, hearing and seeing things and paranoia.

According to various associations in the US, the therapy has been linked to diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity in patients.

The lawsuit placed on behalf of the clients has been filed in the US District Court Southern District of Florida.

Last month, AstraZeneca said it had returned the worldwide rights to development studies surrounding IPI-493 and IPI-504 to its partner Infinity.

Initiated in 2006, the collaboration was originally between MedImmune and Infinity, however it was transferred to AstraZeneca following MedImmune’s acquisition in June 2007.

AstraZeneca said the move would “return the responsibility for development and commercialisation of this programme”.