The jury went home at 4 p.m., and is scheduled to resume deliberations Tuesday.
Bartlett's lawyers called Sulindac a needless and useless drug that poses unreasonable risk to consumers. Lawyers for Mutual countered that Sulindac has been marketed for 32 years and that all drugs carry risks of side effects.
Lawyers for Mutual, which in 2008 changed its name to URL Pharma Inc., vigorously cross-examined Bartlett's witnesses, but did not call witnesses of their own.
Bartlett began taking Sulindac in January 2005 to treat shoulder pain. She was 45 and otherwise healthy. Two weeks later she noticed red spots on her face and irritation around her eyes. She was admitted to the hospital two days later, complaining of feeling like there were "pebbles" under her eyelids and in her throat, and suffering from a worsening rash.
She was diagnosed as having Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epideral Necrolysis (SJS/TEN) - potentially fatal skin diseases that inflame the mucus membranes and eyes and are marked by a skin rash that burns off the outer layer of skin. She spent 112 days in five hospitals, including the Massachusetts General Hospital Burn Unit. The disease also seared her throat, stomach and lungs, causing permanent disabilities.
"It literally burned her alive," Bartlett's lawyer, Keith Jensen, told jurors during closing arguments Thursday. "It burned 65 percent of the skin off her body. . . . It burned her inside and out. "
Jensen said Sulindac has the highest reported incidents of SJS/TEN of any nonsteroid, anti-inflammatory drug on the market - 89 - in arguing that the drug's dangers outweighed any benefit it offered that couldn't have been derived from aspirin or many other drugs.
Joseph Thomas, arguing for Mutual, attacked the credibility of Bartlett's experts.
