Drug company sues Pittsburgh paper, two business journalists

Mylan Inc. announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and two of its business desk staffers, Len Boselovic and Patricia Sabatini, seeking the return of confidential documents.

A release states, “The lawsuit was filed after the newspaper published a series of sensational and misleading articles based on improperly obtained and misconstrued confidential internal documents. The articles mischaracterized a minor deviation from an internal Mylan procedure, creating the false appearance of significant quality and regulatory issues at Mylan’s Morgantown, W.Va., plant when no such issues existed. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently concluded a review at the facility and determined that there were no deficiencies and that no action was required.

“The lawsuit seeks, among other things, the return of the internal confidential and proprietary documents in the Post-Gazette’s possession that were improperly obtained without Mylan’s knowledge or consent. The lawsuit challenges what the Post-Gazette has described as proper news-gathering techniques as well as the improper distribution of Mylan’s internal documents to others who then reviewed them without the complete set of facts. This contributed to the noted mischaracterizations and misleading allegations in the numerous articles published on this matter.

“In addition to recovery of its internal documents, Mylan also seeks to recover compensatory, exemplary and other appropriate relief from the named defendants and any others, as yet unknown, who were involved in or possibly benefitted from the wrongful conduct.”

Read more here. Here’s the last story the paper wrote on Mylan before the lawsuit was filed.