A federal appeals court said Pfizer Inc should pay about $142 million to cover costs for the marketing and prescribing of epilepsy drug Neurontin for unapproved uses, a practice that has also earned it a hefty criminal fine. A panel of appellate judges in Boston on Wednesday refused to overturn a ruling in favor of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, which claimed it had been damaged after prescribing Neurontin for conditions it did not effectively treat, based on fraudulent marketing by Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker. In related appeals, the panel also revived similar claims from insurer Aetna and class action allegations from Harden Manufacturing Corp, restoring lawsuits that had been thrown out by a lower court. The ruling in the Kaiser case, which deals the biggest immediate blow to Pfizer, upholds a lower court’s decision not to grant Pfizer a new trial after a jury had awarded it $142 million.
