The Redbird Smith Health Center in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Photo from Northeastern State University

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has filed lawsuits against several pharmaceutical companies over potentially unsafe drugs.

The tribe has sued Johnson and Johnson, Inc., Janseen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck and Co., Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., The Seqouyah County Times reported. At issue are drugs that were dispensed at the Redbird Smith Health Center that may have harmed patients.

The drugs include Vioxx, which Merck withdrew from the market in 2004. In a settlement with the federal government, the company admitted that it marketed and sold the product for unapproved uses.

“By virtue of the acts alleged above, defendants engaged in methods, acts, and practices with the intent to defraud the Cherokee Nation, its healthcare providers, prescribers and medical assistance programs, tribal elders and disabled persons," the tribe said in the complaints against the companies, the Times reported.

The suits were filed in April, the paper said. They were filed in various federal courts, according to a search of law websites.

Separately, the tribe is suing GlaxoSmithKline in Cherokee Nation court. The company admitted in a settlement with the federal government that it marketed Avandia for unapproved uses.

The company went to federal court in hopes of preventing the tribal case from being heard. The Department of Justice filed a "statement of interest" and said the settlement does not bar the tribe -- or the Indian Health Service -- from asserting claims regarding Avandia.

A federal judge sided with the tribe last October and agreed that the IHS is not covered by the agreement. Turtle Talk has posted documents from that case, GlaxoSmithKline LLC v. Cherokee Nation.

Get the Story:
Tribe sues over drug ‘misbranding’ (The Sequoyah County Times 5/22)