The Arizona Court of Appeals has overturned previous court rulings that said prescription drug companies cannot be sued for consumer fraud.
The unanimous court decision deals with how manufacturers are now advertising and consumers are using prescription medications.
In the past, the court has held the drug maker’s only obligation was to provide a full list of complications and side effects to prescribing doctors.
But the court says the way medicines are advertised and sold now has changed that. While a prescription is still needed to get the drugs, the court says the discussion of which medication a patient uses is not the one-way talk it used to be.
As a result, the court says consumers can be deceived through fraudulent representations of the product, meaning Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act applies to the sale and advertising of the drugs.