In the Philadelphia trial currently taking place over Paxil, a lawyer for the family of an injured teen says that Glaxo did not properly warn the public that Paxil could cause birth defects.
Officials from GlaxoSmithKline had conducted research that dated all the way back to the 1980s. This research showed that Paxil caused death in the babies of animal test subjects and yet attorneys working on behalf of the Blyth family say company officials didn’t warn consumers about it. Kimberly Baden, one of the lawyers working on behalf of Anna Blyth and her family, claims that Paxil caused a narrowing of the aorta that leads from now 14-year-old Anna’s heart.
“We believe the evidence will show Paxil caused Anna’s birth defects,” Baden said during opening statements. “We believe the warnings and instructions put out in 1995 weren’t appropriate and reasonable.”
The Blyth’s case is the first case against Paxil that is specifically about birth defects since the company settled a similar case for $2.9 million dollars in 2009. Glaxo currently is denying that the drug Paxil has anything to do with Anna’s heart defects; company officials also do not think that the animal testing results play any significant role.
With the large range of cases currently going on against Glaxo over their drug Paxil, company officials likely are hoping this case will let the public know that they will not be settling every single claim brought against them. Glaxo officials probably feel that their agreeing to settle a lot of these cases will only spur on more claimants.
Glaxo’s representatives have stated, however, that Glaxo did include references to deaths of animal subjects on their label in 1995. This is the year that Anna’s mother Marsha got pregnant. They are also claiming that Marsha read the warning as well. The jury will be hearing more about this case; so far, neither side has the upper hand.