Sanofi sues decision aid maker for ‘injurious falsehood’
pharmafile | April 20, 2015 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Diagnosia, Sanofi, metamizole, tech
A tech start-up says it is being sued by pharma giant Sanofi for presenting facts about a drug’s side effects in a decision support app.
Austrian firm Diagnosia’s Enterprise tool presents doctors with evidence-based information about a drug’s benefits and risks to help them decide on the right treatments for patients. It includes the positive effects of the painkiller metamizole, and its possible side effects and how it might interact with other medications – along with similar information for other drugs.
But Sanofi is apparently unhappy with the information presented in the app, and is seeking damages from Diagnosia for alerting its customers to the allegedly false information. This originally included taking out an injunction against the start-up at the end of last year, which Diagnosia successfully contested. The litigation remains ongoing.
“We are being sued for injurious falsehood (reputational and financial damage) for publishing certain side effects and drug interactions that possibly bear a risk for patients,” Diagnosia medical director and co-founder Lukas Zinnagl told the website TechCrunch. “It is a strange claim. We are evidence-based, neutral and have in general no problem with pharma.”
Metamizole was first introduced in Germany in 1921, the drug is not available in the US, Japan or Sweden due to known – but rare – side effects.
Diagnosia says that other sources including Stockley’s drug interactions, the US drug information software Micromedex, and Switzerland’s MediQ, have similar information. In addition, the EMA lists metamizole in the NSAIDs group – which the site says Sanofi is also contesting.
Sanofi has access to significant resources if it decides to challenge Diagnosia in the courts, whereas the Austrian outfit has 15 employees compared to Sanofi’s 100,000. However, the start-up is refusing to change the way it lists metamizole and vows to continue to fight the case.
Commenting on the news, Professor Glyn Elwyn, senior scientist at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, says: “This day had to come. It has implications for all those producing patient facing information.”
Lilian Anekwe
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