Personal Injury Law

GlaxoSmithKline to pay $750 million for defective drugs

By LaBovick Law

GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical makers, has agreed to pay $750 million  for allegedly selling dangeroua and improperly made drugs.

GSK plead guilty to allegations that a formerly owned plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico churned out medications that were mislabeled, mixed up in the wrong packaging, and even defective -- made either too weak or too strong. The defects affected such popular prescription drugs as the antidepressant Paxil and the ointment Bactroban, used to treat skin infections.

The government claimed that the plant mixed different strengths of some pills together, such as both 30 mg and 10 mg tablets in the same bottle, and that Bactroban and Kytril, an anti-nausea medication, were contaminated with microorganisms.

The success of the lawsuit is largely due to a whistleblower that was a former manager of quality assurance for GSK, who came forward after she was fired. The whistleblower will receive $96 million from the federal share of the $750 million settlement.

Click on the following link to read more on the GlaxoSmithKline $750 million settlement

Full post as published by LaBovick Injury Law Blog on October 26, 2010 (boomark / email).