The Curious Case Of AstraZeneca v. ACE

The pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca did well in its handling of a mass tort action against one of its blockbuster products, the antipsychotic Seroquel. The company won a number of court rulings and then settled thousands of cases on far better terms than Eli Lilly did in a a similar action targeting their version of the drug. But a provision in the contract AstraZeneca had with its insurers ended up resulting in a denial of coverage, even for defense costs, under a scenario in which the company would have come out better if it had let the plaintiffs’ causation argument prevail.