Tennessee will receive $1.95 million as part of a $100 million multistate agreement with Abbott Laboratories over allegations of illegal off-label marketing of its Depakote drug.
The state joins 44 other states and the District of Columbia in the settlement, which Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper and Department of Commerce and Insurance Consumer Affairs Director Gary Cordell announced today.
The agreement marks the largest consumer protection-based pharmaceutical agreement ever reached. The Illinois-based Abbott will be restricted from marketing the drug for off-label uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“We are pleased to announce the resolution of this investigation into the off-label promotion of this drug,” Cooper said in release. “We hope other companies will think twice before promoting drugs for uses that have not been approved.”