Drug company files second lawsuit against Pittsburgh paper

Russell Adams of The Wall Street Journal reports that drug manufacturer Mylan Pharmaceuticals has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, its second lawsuit against the paper this year.

Adams writes, “In the lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court of Monongalia County, W. Va., Mylan said the Post-Gazette and its staff writers ‘intentionally and misleadingly omitted, juxtaposed and distorted the facts’ in an article saying that Mylan workers had routinely violated quality control procedures at the company’s generic drug manufacturing plant in Morgantown, Pa.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigated the Mylan plant shortly after the article appeared and said it did not find any ‘objectionable’ deficiencies or evidence that the quality of Mylan products had been compromised.

“A spokeswoman for the Post-Gazette said the paper was not aware of the lawsuit and therefore could not comment on it.

“The company, based in Canonsburg, Pa., is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, asserting in the suit that the article led to ‘dramatic’ fluctuations in the company’s stock and damaged its reputation among patients and shareholders. It said in the suit that the Post-Gazette ‘manufactured a crisis where none existed.'”

Read more here.