Glaxo accused of Drug Fraud

GlaxoSmithKline PLC committed fraud by withholding negative information and misrepresenting data on prescribing its anti-depressant Paxil to children, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The lawsuit highlights two pharmaceutical and medical controversies: whether anti-depressants increase suicidal tendencies in children, and whether drug companies skew information on their products either by not publicizing all the studies conducted on medicines or editing information on published trials.

The most detailed reports can be seen in the NYT, which has details on two drug trials, known within SmithKline Beecham as Study 329 and Study 377. Study 329 suggested that the company's popular drug Paxil might help depressed adolescents. Study 377, completed later, indicated that Paxil provided no more benefit than a sugar pill in treating depressed young people. This later study was recommended to be "buried"

As noted in Bloomberg<, the cost to insure GlaxoSmithKline Plc debt has doubled after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed the lawsuit against the company.

Forbes also notes that GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to compensate Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd for withdrawing an antibiotic from the market five years ago.