[Cslist] [Fwd: [controiltso] Fwd: Glaxo must pay $2.5M in Paxil case - GSK to appeal]

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---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [controiltso] Fwd:  Glaxo must pay $2.5M in Paxil case - GSK to
appeal
From:    "hanna g" <hannagenova85 at yahoo.com>
Date:    Wed, October 14, 2009 3:55 am
To:      controiltso at yahoogroups.com
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--- In uksurvivors at yahoogroups.com, "jeremy9282" <jeremybryce1953 at ...> wrote:

Glaxo must pay $2.5M in Paxil case


http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/business_breaking/20091013_Glaxo\
_must_pay__2_5M_in_Paxil_case.html
<http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/business_breaking/20091013_Glax\
o_must_pay__2_5M_in_Paxil_case.html>

By Miriam Hill

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. must pay $2.5 million to settle a claim that its
Paxil antidepressant caused severe heart defects in a 3-year-old
Bensalem boy, a Philadelphia common pleas jury ruled today.

The verdict is the first in 600 cases alleging that London-based Glaxo
knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those risks to boost profits.

The drug, approved for U.S. use in 1992, generated about $942 million in
sales last year, 2.1 percent of Glaxo's total revenue.

London-based Glaxo has major operations in the Philadelphia region.

Michelle David had claimed that her 3-year-old son Lyam Kilker suffered
life-threatening heart defects because she took Paxil while she was
pregnant with him.

Glaxo issued a statement saying it disagrees with the verdict and will
appeal.

"While we sympathize with Lyam Kilker and his family, the scientific
evidence does not establish that exposure to Paxil during pregnancy
caused his condition. Very unfortunately, birth defects occur in three
to five percent of all live births, whether or not the mother was taking
medication during pregnancy," the company's statement said.

David and Kilker's lawyers, Sean Tracey of Houston and Jamie Sheller of
the Philadelphia firm Sheller P.C., argued that Glaxo withheld
information from consumers and regulators about the risk of birth
defects and failed to properly test Paxil.

"The first win is always huge, especially when you get a jury saying the
drug caused the injury," Sean Tracey, Kilker's lawyer, told Bloomberg in
an interview after the jury reached its decision.

Glaxo's lawyer, Chilton Varner of King & Spalding in Atlanta, countered
that the company reported any sign of problems to federal authorities.
She had accused Tracey of cherry-picking sentences from documents.

During the trial, she also noted that Kilker, who underwent several
surgeries to fix his heart problems today "has no cardiac symptoms . . .
is at preschool and runs and walks like an [almost] 4-year-old should."

In its statement today, Glaxo said it "acted properly and responsibly in
conducting its clinical trial program for Paxil, including sharing
documentation and submitting results from studies on Paxil to
regulators."

Kilker will require more surgeries as he grows.

David was a former cheerleader for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The case was heard by Judge Stephen Levin in Common Pleas Court.

The FDA initially classified Paxil as a drug with no known connections
to birth defects. In 2005, the agency reclassified it as a drug with
some evidence of human fetal risk but allowed doctors to continue
prescribing it to women of childbearing age if the benefits outweigh the
risks

--- End forwarded message ---


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