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Roche Sued by Patient Claiming Cancer From Pulled Psoriasis Drug Raptiva

By Laurel Brubaker Calkins - 2011-01-08T00:52:08Z

Roche Holding AG’s Genentech Inc. was sued by a Texas psoriasis sufferer who alleges he developed lymphoma while taking Raptiva, a drug the company stopped selling in 2009 when studies linked it to a fatal brain infection.

Genentech, a unit of Basel, Switzerland-based drugmaker Roche, began a phased withdrawal of Raptiva in April 2009 after three patients taking it were diagnosed in the preceding six- month period with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, a rare, incurable brain disease.

Houston-area psoriasis patient Cary Massa, 51, was diagnosed with classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma in March 2009, after taking Raptiva from February 2006 to January 2008, according to a complaint filed today in Houston federal court.

“Despite knowing that Raptiva posed the risk of serious injuries for anyone who took the drug, defendants pushed Raptiva to market on unfounded claims of efficacy and safety while downplaying altogether and denying the drug’s life-threatening risks,’’ Mark Lanier, Massa’s attorney, said in the filing.

Berkeley, California-based Xoma (US) LLC, which helped develop Raptiva with South San Francisco-based Genentech, was also named in the suit, which accuses the companies of failure to warn, product liability, breach of warranty, fraud by concealment and gross negligence.

Tara Iannuccillo, a Genentech spokeswoman, declined to comment in a brief telephone interview, citing a company policy not to discuss litigation.

Genentech was acquired by Roche Holding in March 2009, the month before the company began pulling Raptiva from the market. The company estimated 2,000 U.S. patients were taking the drug at that time, generating U.S. sales of $108 million in 2008.

Massa doesn’t specify the amount of damages he is seeking. He does request punitive damages “for the purpose of punishing defendants for their conduct, in an amount sufficiently large to be an example to others,’’ Lanier said in the filing.

The case is Massa v. Genentech Inc. and Xoma (US) LLC, 4:11-cv-00070, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurel Brubaker Calkins in Houston at +1-713-851-6648 or laurel@calkins.us.com.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at +1-212-617-1092 or drovella@bloomberg.net.