New York Times Reports on GlaxoKlineSmith Product Contamination Settlement
An article in The New York Times reported on the Getnick & Getnick groundbreaking whistleblower case that resulted in GlaxoKlineSmith’s $750 million settlement for knowingly selling contaminated baby ointment and ineffective antidepressants.
The New York Times stated that GlaxoSmithKline “sold 20 drugs with questionable safety that were made at a huge plant in Puerto Rico that for years was rife with contamination.” These included Paxil, an antidepressant, Bactroban, an ointment; Avandia, a troubled diabetes drug; Coreg, a heart drug; and Tagamet, an acid reflux drug.
While multiple whistleblower cases have been resolved recently, this is the first case that asserted the drug manufacturer knowingly sold contaminated products. The whistleblower in the case, Cheryl D. Eckard, a quality manager at GlaxoSmithKline, complained repeatedly that the Puerto Rico factory she worked in was contaminated and overcrowded. She recommended recalls of defective products, but was ignored. In May 2003, she was terminated as redundant.
Read the entire article, “Glaxo to Pay $750 Million for Sale of Bad Products.”