Commonwealth Care Alliance v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, L.P.

Sanders, Janet L., J.

This is a class action pursuant to G.L.c. 93A for an allegedly deceptive marketing program conducted in connection with the prescription drug Nexium. Specifically, plaintiffs allege that defendant AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, L.P. (Astra-Zeneca) promoted Nexium to Massachusetts consumers and third-party payors by falsely claiming that the drug was superior to AstraZeneca’s own (earlier) drug Prilosec at a time when Prilosec was about to lose patent protection and become available to patients in a cheaper generic form. Filed in 2005, the case was settled just two weeks…