Glaxo To Pay $1 Billion In Birth Defects Of Paxil

 Keep in mind that children, as young as 2 years old have been prescribed Paxil and foster kids have been used in clinic trials.  

Children have been removed from parents and placed in foster care due to these Paxil birth defects.

Even though the company did turn a profit, the settlement, or rather birth defects are deemed as fiscal liabilities.

Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion Over Paxil Suits

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve more than 800 cases alleging its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in some users’ children, according to people familiar with the settlements.

The accords, which provide an average payout of more than $1.2 million to families of affected children, leave more than 100 birth-defect cases still pending, the people said. Officials of Glaxo, the U.K.’s biggest drugmaker, said July 15 they set aside $2.4 billion to resolve litigation over Paxil and its Avandia diabetes drug.

“It looks as if this should be covered in the liabilities to be charged in the second-quarter numbers,” Nick Turner, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities in London, said in an interview today. “If there are further liabilities to be disclosed in the third-quarter numbers, that would be very disappointing.”

The birth-defect settlements bring to more than $2 billion the amount Glaxo has agreed to pay to resolve a variety of Paxil-related suits, including claims it caused suicides or attempted suicides and addiction problems, the people said.

Glaxo officials confirmed yesterday they agreed to settle some Paxil birth-defect cases filed against the drugmaker. They refused to comment the terms of the settlements...more