Marketing of Humira is Misleading, Investors Claim in Proposed Class Action

Drug maker AbbVie’s marketing of Humira is misleading, investors have told a federal court in a proposed class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs include the Ironworkers National Pension Plan and an asset management firm based in Germany. They claim that they and others who invested in AbbVie between 2013 and 2018 lost money due to the drug maker’s illegal Humira marketing strategy.

Specifically, the investors claim that AbbVie artificially inflated its stock price, which skyrocketed on the continuing expansion of Humira to treat additional conditions.

AbbVie stock dropped precipitously when the California Department of Insurance filed a lawsuit in 2018, accusing the company of using kickbacks and other illegal methods to market Humira. AbbVie reportedly settled the Insurance Department’s lawsuit for $24 million.

“Throughout the Class Period, AbbVie engaged in an illegal and undisclosed kickback scheme through which it provided physicians with goods and services, including cash, in return for their prescribing Humira,” states the investors’ motion urging certification for Class Members.

The class action lawsuit alleges that investors never signed on for certain aspects of AbbVie’s Humira marketing campaign that allegedly included kickbacks to physicians prescribing the drug in the form of cash, alcohol, and trips. In addition, the company was accused of using dubious “nurse ambassadors” that allegedly provided false information about Humira to patients.

AbbVie has also faced allegations that it failed to report the dangers of the drugs and actively worked to keep information about Humira’s risks from doctors, according to a 2018 report by The Los Angeles Times. The company has also reportedly been accused of price gouging patients who take Humira by delaying patents and driving up prices.

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The lead plaintiffs and proposed Class Members are represented by Gregg S. Levin, Christopher F. Moriarty and Erin C. Williams of Motley Rice LLC; Arthur C. Leahy, Lucas F. Olts and Kevin A. Lavelle of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP; and Anthony F. Fata of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP.

The Humira Marketing Class Action Lawsuit is Mayuko Holwill et al. v. AbbVie Inc. et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-06790, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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