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Wisconsin will receive about $1.5 million under a $68.5 million settlement reached last week in a multi-state lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. The settlement, according to the office of Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, is the largest ever in a multi-state consumer protection case brought against a pharmaceutical company.

Wisconsin joined 37 other states in the case, and the attorneys for Florida and Illinois led the investigation. According to the complaint filed by Wisconsin, AstraZeneca marketed Seroquel, an antipsychotic drug approved by the FDA in 1997, to doctors and nursing homes for the treatment of “off-label” conditions, including anxiety, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Doctors can legally prescribe drugs for “off-label” use not approved by the FDA – but it’s illegal for pharmaceutical companies to advertise or otherwise market them for such uses.

AstraZeneca promoted prescribing the medication, the complaint says, for geriatric and child patients “long before establishing that it was safe or effective for any use in this population.” Van Hollen also alleged the company suppressed evidence showing the hazards of Seroquel, which, like similar drugs, can cause weight gain and increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

As part of the settlement, AstraZeneca will also have to post online records of payments it made to doctors while marketing Seroquel.

“Where aggressive pharmaceutical marketing misrepresents the risks and efficacy of a drug, consumer can be driven to – and doctors encouraged to prescribe – medication that is ineffective or dangerous,” Van Hollen said in a statement.

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