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Glaxo Ignored Paxil's Birth-Defect Risks, Lawyer Says (Update2)
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By Jef Feeley and Sophia Pearson
www.bloomber g.com/apps/ news?pid= 20601202& sid=al5HBXqhZVho
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -
officials intentionally ignored the possibility that the Paxil
antidepressant caused birth defects, a lawyer said in closing arguments
of a trial over the drug.
Glaxo researchers never followed up on studies showing Paxil posed a
birth-defect risk for fear of harming sales, Sean Tracey, lawyer for a
family suing over the drug, told jurors yesterday in state court in
Philadelphia.
The London-based drugmaker "made a concerted effort" not to study
Paxil's links to birth defects, Tracey said. Glaxo executives sought to
"avoid doing studies that would have revealed the truth about their
drugs," he said.
The trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that Glaxo, the
U.K.'s largest drugmaker, knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those
risks to increase profits. The drug, approved for U.S. use in 1992,
generated about $942 million in sales </apps/quote? ticker=GSK% 3ALN>
last year, or 2.1 percent of Glaxo's total revenue.
The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from
consumers and regulators about Paxil's risks and failed to properly test
the drug. Lyam's mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing her
son's life-threatening heart defects.
`Set Sympathy Aside'
Glaxo's lawyers contend the company isn't liable for Lyam's heart
defects and acted responsibly in testing Paxil and updating safety
information.
Jurors must "set sympathy aside and decide this case fairly," Chilton
Varner, one of Glaxo's lawyers, told the
panel in her closing statement today.
Arguments that Glaxo "has acted improperly or unethically" in its
testing and marketing of Paxil "don't ring true," Varner added.
The company's provision for legal and other nontax disputes as of June
30 was 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8 billion), Glaxo officials said in a July
22 regulatory filing that didn't mention the Paxil litigation.
Glaxo's American depositary receipts </apps/quote? ticker=GSK% 3AUS> ,
each representing two ordinary shares, rose 37 cents to $39.68 in New
York Stock Exchange composite trading at 12:30 p.m. Glaxo rose 4 pence
to 1,235 pence in London trading.
The case is Kilker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. dba GlaxoSmithKline,
2007-001813, Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia) .
Share | Email
By Jef Feeley and Sophia Pearson
www.bloomber g.com/apps/ news?pid= 20601202& sid=al5HBXqhZVho
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -
officials intentionally ignored the possibility that the Paxil
antidepressant caused birth defects, a lawyer said in closing arguments
of a trial over the drug.
Glaxo researchers never followed up on studies showing Paxil posed a
birth-defect risk for fear of harming sales, Sean Tracey, lawyer for a
family suing over the drug, told jurors yesterday in state court in
Philadelphia.
The London-based drugmaker "made a concerted effort" not to study
Paxil's links to birth defects, Tracey said. Glaxo executives sought to
"avoid doing studies that would have revealed the truth about their
drugs," he said.
The trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that Glaxo, the
U.K.'s largest drugmaker, knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those
risks to increase profits. The drug, approved for U.S. use in 1992,
generated about $942 million in sales </apps/quote? ticker=GSK% 3ALN>
last year, or 2.1 percent of Glaxo's total revenue.
The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from
consumers and regulators about Paxil's risks and failed to properly test
the drug. Lyam's mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing her
son's life-threatening heart defects.
`Set Sympathy Aside'
Glaxo's lawyers contend the company isn't liable for Lyam's heart
defects and acted responsibly in testing Paxil and updating safety
information.
Jurors must "set sympathy aside and decide this case fairly," Chilton
Varner, one of Glaxo's lawyers, told the
panel in her closing statement today.
Arguments that Glaxo "has acted improperly or unethically" in its
testing and marketing of Paxil "don't ring true," Varner added.
The company's provision for legal and other nontax disputes as of June
30 was 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8 billion), Glaxo officials said in a July
22 regulatory filing that didn't mention the Paxil litigation.
Glaxo's American depositary receipts </apps/quote? ticker=GSK% 3AUS> ,
each representing two ordinary shares, rose 37 cents to $39.68 in New
York Stock Exchange composite trading at 12:30 p.m. Glaxo rose 4 pence
to 1,235 pence in London trading.
The case is Kilker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. dba GlaxoSmithKline,
2007-001813, Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia) .
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