FDA letters and deceptive advertising

Under the Code of Alabama, § 8-19-4, part of the responsibility of the Attorney General is to protect Alabama consumers from deceptive trade practices. A recent article in The National Law Journal http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429354269&rss=nlj discusses the large settlements that some State Attorneys General are recovering from pharmaceutical companies who engage in deceptive advertising.

Aggressive attorneys general are using letters the FDA sent the drug manufacturers warning them that certain advertisements constitute deceptive or illegal marketing practices. The FDA letters have lead to significant payouts to some of our sister states. For instance, West Virginia recovered $4.5 million from Johnson & Johnson and Connecticut recently reached a $6 million settlement with Cephalon Inc.

These companies run national advertisement campaigns and Alabama consumers are entitled to protection against the same kinds of adds which have been punished elsewhere.