A chance meeting, a discussion, a common interest.
That's all it needs at times to stumble upon something you've been seeking for close to 10 years.
Video depositions have always fascinated me, they are better than the written depositions that we see within court documents. Most notably they show the subject answering questions, they show the subject in a much different light, they show the subject being evasive and choosing not to answer questions that may jeopardise the party he is appearing for. Moreover, they can be seen at later dates, when the subject has moved on to a different company or, in this instance, to head of the British drug regulator, the MHRA.
Ian Hudson is the former World Safety Officer for SmithKline Beecham, today they are more commonly known as GlaxoSmithKline or GSK.
On Friday, December 15, 2000, Ian Hudson, who at the time was still employed by GSK, gave a deposition in relation to a case that was to be tried in Wyoming a year or so after this deposition was taken, the result of which found that Paxil was, in fact, a proximate cause of the deaths in this case.
The case in question was brought against GSK by the relatives of a man, Donald Schell, who killed himself and three others after taking the drug Paxil,
Here is Ian Hudson's video testimony. It's a bit scratchy in places and the audio drops but it is the first time this has been seen in public.
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Ian Hudson is the current Chief Executive of the MHRA, the British drug regulator who regulate the drugs you and I take.
You can draw your own conclusions as to whether or not you think Ian Hudson is forthright with his answers in this deposition.
A transcript of the video deposition can be found here.
Ian Hudson was being asked questions by US attorney, Andy Vickery.
(GSK are currently defending another Paxil related suicide in the US - The Stewart Dolin files can be seen here)
Bob Fiddaman.
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