The story broke on Monday regarding the cardiac problems with Avandia, a diabetes drug by GlaxoSmithKline.
On Tuesday I took a look at Google’s sponsored links for the search phrase, “Avandia Attorneys” and it showed three results, shown here in this screen shot: AvandiaAttorneysMay22.pdf
I checked again this afternoon and, no big surprise, the number has jumped. Now there are 11 seen at this screen shot: AvandiaAttorneysMay23.pdf
[Addendum 5/24, 9:00 a.m. – Overnight, two new websites appeared in the pay-per-click Google ad space with Avandia as part of the domain name. A week from now, the landscape will no doubt be far more cluttered than today.]
For those interested in the subject of attorney advertising, it will be an interesting metric to watch.
And if, by chance, you were wondering if this violates New York’s new “30 day rule” that prohibits attorney advertising within that time frame for an incident, the New York State Bar Association has this helpful FAQ:
Question:
Do web sites which are aimed at lawsuits against specific manufacturers or causes of action (i.e., vioxx, etc.) fall in the “specific incident” provision of DR 7-111 such that, for example, once the FDA reports the danger of the drug publicly, the 30 day rule is triggered?
Answer: The use of the term “incident” in DR 7-111 apparently does not relate to the announcement of information. Rather it appears to relate to the injurious incident — i.e., an incident such as the Staten Island Ferry crash.