GSK lawyer accused of off-label promotion has case dismissed

The retired GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) lawyer Lauren Stevens was acquitted on 10 May of all counts related to alleged off-label marketing of bupropion for weight loss.

Judge Roger Titus of the US District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in his ruling after the government had presented its case, “I believe it would be a miscarriage of justice to permit this case to go to the jury.”

Last year Ms Stevens was indicted as part of an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration into the off-label marketing of the antidepressant bupropion (which is marketed in the United States as Wellbutrin) for weight loss (BMJ 2010;341:c6570, doi:10.1136/bmj.c6570). She was charged with …