Remaining Avandia Lawsuits May Be Heading to Mediation
GlaxoSmithKline is facing a judge’s push to resolve the majority of the remaining lawsuits which claim that the company illegally marketed its diabetes drug Avandia.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe said Monday she appointed a mediator to “preside over settlement negotiations” for an unspecified number of Avandia cases consolidated before her in Philadelphia. Rufe set a 75-day deadline to resolve 85 percent of the remaining cases, according to court filings.
According to Business Week, Rufe named Lafayette, Louisiana-based lawyer, Patrick A. Juneau, to mediate in the Avandia cases. Juneau has served as a mediator in more than 2,000 cases.
Glaxo, the U.K.’s biggest drugmaker, is trying to resolve legal issues spanning over a decade. Executives said the company will pay $3 billion to settle U.S. criminal and civil probes into whether Glaxo illegally marketed Avandia and other medications.
It has been estimated that Glaxo still faces about 20,000 Avandia claims, comprising cases consolidated before Rufe, those filed in state courts and suits that have been stayed subject to agreements between the drugmaker and plaintiffs’ lawyers.
GSK was originally was scheduled to face the first trials of Avandia users’ claims this month, but judges in California and New Mexico pushed trials back until next year.
The company said last year it would stop promoting Avandia worldwide after regulators said the treatment would be withdrawn from the market in Europe and sales would be limited in the U.S. because of studies linking the drug to increased risks of heart attacks.
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