Glaxo loses first US Paxil case

13th Oct 2009 18:20

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline has been ordered to pay $2.5m in damages to the family of Lyam Kilker, after a jury in a Philadelphia court ruled that the company had failed to give sufficient warnings to doctors and pregnant women that its Paxil antidepressant could cause birth defects.Kilker's mother claimed that the heart defects with which her son was born were due to the drug. The case was the first of around 600 similar cases brought against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). A member of GSK's legal team said the group would probably appeal against the decision.Paxil was approved for sale in the US in 1992 and accounted for around 2.1% of GSK's total revenue last year.