The CBS Evening News reported, “Glaxo-Smith-Kline agreed to pay $750 million to settle a case involving defective drugs, including the anti-depressant Paxil [paroxetine].”
NBC Nightly News reported pointed out that company “admits it sold drugs of questionable safety made at a huge plant in Puerto Rico.” It “now admits some were mislabeled in wrong packages, others were made too weak or too strong. The lawsuit was initiated by a company whistle blower, a former manager of quality control.”
The New York Times reports on its front page, “GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug giant, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle criminal and civil complaints that the company for years knowingly sold contaminated baby ointment and an ineffective antidepressant.” In total, GlaxoSmithKline “sold 20 drugs with questionable safety that were made at a huge plant in Puerto Rico that for years was rife with contamination.” Justice Department officials announced the settlement Tuesday, “saying a $150 million payment to settle criminal charges was the largest such payment ever by a manufacturer of adulterated drugs.” The “outcome also provides $600 million in civil penalties.”
The AP reports that GlaxoSmithKline “allowed several drugs to be adulterated between 2001 and 2005, including Paxil CR, a skin-infection ointment called Bactroban [mupirocin], and an anti-nausea drug called Kytril [granisetron].” The company said “that it regrets operating the plant in a manner that violated good manufacturing practices,” noting that “the plant closed in 2009 due to declining demand for the medicines made there.” The federal investigation “began after Cheryl Eckard, the company’s global quality assurance manager, went to the Food and Drug Administration to report problems at the Puerto Rico plant.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
