Some Paxil lawsuits settled by Glaxo

GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. - which last week said it set aside $2.4 billion to settle court cases over its drugs Paxil and Avandia - agreed to pay $1 billion of that total to resolve more than 800 cases involving the antidepressant Paxil, Bloomberg News reported today.

Bloomberg, citing unnamed people familiar with the settlements, said the agreements leave more than 100 cases pending on claims that anti-depressant Paxil caused birth defects in some users' children.

Hundreds of the Paxil cases were filed in Philadelphia. Glaxo, based in the United Kingdom, has major operations here.

Glaxo confirmed to Bloomberg that it agreed to settle some Paxil birth-defect cases to avoid costs and uncertainties of litigation, but refused to comment on the terms.

In October, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury ordered Glaxo to pay $2.5 million to settle a claim that Paxil caused severe heart defects in a 3-year-old Bensalem boy.

Avandia is a diabetes drug.    - Inquirer staff