Patients Sue Basf Over Thyroid Study

An $8.5 billion lawsuit was filed in federal court against Germany's BASF AG and US unit Knoll Pharmaceutical Co alleging they suppressed a medical study to control the US market for thyroid drugs, attorneys said on Saturday.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in San Francisco, alleged that BASF, Knoll and Boots Pharmaceutical concealed a seven-year university study that concluded that their thyroid drug was no better than cheaper, generic brands to treat people suffering from hypothyroidism.

Attorney Barry Himmelstein, representing the thyroid patients, said he would seek class action status for the lawsuit and a jury trial in San Francisco. This is where the research was done. This is where it was suppressed, he told Reuters in an interview.

 

The San Francisco attorney representing the companies was not immediately available to comment.

An estimated 8 million Americans suffer from hypothyroidism, a condition caused by an under-active thyroid gland. The gland, located in the neck, produces a hormone called thyroxine which regulates the body's metabolism. People with hypothyroidism must receive thyroxine in order to survive.

The vast majority of people with hypothyroidism take the drug Synthroid