Yet more money thrown at a problem. No criminal charges just dollars, gagging orders and no admission of liability.
The Financial Times is today reporting that GlaxoSmithKline may have to pay up to $1Billion [£670Million] to settle side-effect claims on its diabetes medicine Avandia.
The Financial Times writes:
The pharmaceutical company is close to finalising an out-of-court deal for about $60m with a group of 700 plaintiffs who claim the drug caused strokes and heart attacks.
Adding:
GSK has never disclosed the number of lawsuits it faces concerning Avandia, and refused to comment yesterday on the settlement.
I find it strange that they have 'refused to comment,' I'm kind of missing the normal, "Avandia has helped millions of people world-wide" type of comment from one of their spokespersons.
Both GlaxoSmithKline and the US drug regulators, the FDA, were criticised in a Senate report for their handling of Avandia earlier this year.
FULL STORY
Staying on-topic, GlaxoSmithKline are heading for the High Court in London later this year to defend their drug Seroxat, known as Paxil in the US.
GlaxoSmithKline are defending claims that Seroxat has propensity to cause withdrawal reactions.
Glaxo have reportedly already paid out almost $1Billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it introduced the antidepressant in 1993. [Source]
Last year GlaxoSmithKline were found guilty by a majority of 10-2 that Seroxat caused a child, Lyam Kilker, to be born with heart defects. At the time there were a further 630 or so other cases pending. Glaxo, it appears, have been quietly settling these cases out of court.
Fid
ORDER THE PAPERBACK
'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
SIGNED COPIES HERE OR UNSIGNED FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING
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