The biggest U.K. Drug maker, GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK), has agreed to pay $90 million to the District of Columbia and 37 other U.S states to settle the claims that it has been accused of. The company has been accused of illegally promoting the drug Avandia that helps relieve diabetes.
According to the state attorneys general, Glaxo has failed to educated the public about the risks of heart attacks and strokes that could be caused by the drug. The company only focused on pumping up its sales. Glaxo, to resolve government probes of its marketing of Avandia, has already paid $3 billion. That money also covers the patient lawsuits over the diabetes drug.
U.S.-based spokeswoman for Glaxo, Bernadette king, sent an email statement where she mentioned that the settlement marks an important step in resolving this issue. The issue has been stretching back for decades now and Glaxo is pushing to resolve legal issues through this financial settlement. In July, the representatives of the company agreed to plead guilty misdemeanor criminal charges. Consequently the company will have to pay $3 billion to settle U.S. criminal and civil investigations. According to the court filings, Glaxo failed to properly report clinical safety date about the diabetes drug. Aside from that the company has also agreed to pay $700 million to those patients that suffered from heart attacks after trying out the drug Avandia. This was confirmed by people familiar with the accords.
Holds Accountable
Tom Horne, the state general of Arizona said in an email statement that the settlement with the states was tough, fair and held GlaxoSmithKline accountable for the way it promoted it diabetes drug. The settlement also required Glaxo to make amendments to the way it keeps information about the safety of its drugs.
The spokeswoman, King stated that 6 states opted out of the multistate accord while other states declined to participate and did not seek for compensation. King added, the company Glaxo did not admit any wrongdoings but chose to settle the case just for the sake of avoiding the expenses uncertainty of protracted litigation and trial.
Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada’s attorney general emailed a statement where she mentioned that under this new accord, Glaxo was not allowed to make any false statement about any diabetes related drug that it would release into the market. From now on, any safety claim about any diabetes drug released by Glaxo must be supported by substantial evidence.
Promotion halted
Masto also added that from this point on, during the following 8 years, Glaxo is required to post summaries of its safety studies about diabetes related drugs.
In 2010, Glaxo chose to stop promoting the drug Avandia to the market because regulators decided to withdraw the treatment from the market. The fact is there has been studies linking the drug to increase risks of heart attacks. The company said, in the wake of the restrictions, the sale of the diabetes drug fell 43%. In the past, Avandia was known to be the best selling diabetes drug, making an annual sales of $3 billion to the company.
