Avandia Settlement: Most cases settled. But not all of them

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Avandia, the diabetes drug that in the news right now is connected with heart attacks. Approximately 10,000 of the currently 13,000 lawsuits pending are going to be settled as part of this settlement.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to pay about $460 million to resolve a majority of lawsuits alleging the company’s Avandia diabetes drug can cause heart attacks and strokes, people familiar with the accords said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/13/health/main6675648.shtml

While this may be a big step for resolving a lot of the lawsuits, it is not the final conclusion of all the cases. In most cases and I expect it is the same with this one, each person will have the opportunity to opt out of the settlement and continue to pursue a lawsuit outside of the settlement. Now I can’t say that this is what you should or not do, it’s just a possible option.

In even more significant and shocking news is that a report from the Senate indicates

The maker of controversial diabetes drug Avandia knew for around a decade that the medication increased risks of heart problems in patients but covered up that fact from the public, according to a Senate Finance Committee probe.

Internal company emails showed GlaxoSmithKline “attempted to downplay scientific findings about he safety of Avandia as far back as 2000,” according to a committee press release.

According to a New York Times report Tuesday, SmithKline Beecham began testing on the drug in 1999 to see how it compared to a rival pill, the Takeda-manufactured Actos. The results showed signs that Avandia posed a heart risk.

In a March 29, 2001 e-mail about the study, SmithKline executive Dr. Martin I. Freed wrote: “This was done for the U.S. business, way under the radar. Per Sr. Mgmt request, these data should not see the light of day to anyone outside of GSK.” The company became GlaxoSmithKline after a 2000 merger. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/13/health/main6673320.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody