Abbott sues Watson on misleading info regarding Synthroid

Abbott Laboratories has filed suit in the USA against WatsonPharmaceuticals, seeking a federal court injunction to immediately stop the latter's "false advertising and deceptive trade practices" regarding Abbott's prescription thyroid drug Synthroid (levothyroxine sodium), a drug which it acquired along with the purchase of BASF Pharma/Knoll in March this year (Marketletters passim). The suit also calls on the court to order Watson to undertake an advertising campaign to correct the "deliberate misinformation" it has created in the medical community.

This action, says Abbott, is to ensure patient safety and "put an end to the fears, concerns and confusion that are being created among the more than eight million thyroid patients who depend on Synthroid everyday."

In its suit, Abbott charges that Watson is attempting to achieve, through an orchestrated campaign designed to concern and confuse patients (including misrepresentation of the US Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process), what Watson has "evidently concluded it cannot gain by promoting its product on its own merits."