Seroquel Documents: AZ Planned Off-Label Seroquel Sales In 2000

Amidst the just-released batch of Seroquel documents is one dated Dec. 18, 2000, headlined "'Seroquel' Strategy Summary." In it, AstraZeneca executives laid out what they considered key success factors for the drug, which was only approved for schizophrenia at the time and sales of which were far outpaced by J&J's Risperdal and Eli Lilly's Zyprexa.

The document clearly states that one of the key success factors to increasing sales was to "broaden Seroquel use on and off label" and to "utilise whole selling team, educational programmes to share off label data." The spellings are as in the document.

Ed Blizzard, a plaintiffs' attorney in the various Seroquel lawsuits now underway, said in an interview that this document was approved at the very top of the company and is evidence that the company planned to market the drug off-label.

Tony Jewell, an AZ spokesman, told Bloomberg:

"'These documents do not advocate the inappropriate promotion of Seroquel,' Tony Jewell, AstraZeneca’s spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. He noted the company’s researchers have 'invested significant resources' seeking to find new ways to have the drug help mentally ill patients."

If they didn't advocate promotion of the drug, then why would they call for the use of the "whole selling team" and "educational programmes?"

Elsewhere in the same document, AZ claims that Seroquel is "weight neutral in the long term."

"This profile is highly suited to Bipolar patients," the document states.

At the time, Seroquel was not approved for use in bipolar disorder.