2 Attorneys Settle Their Avandia Cases In Federal, State Courts

PHILADELPHIA — (Mealey’s) Two attorneys have settled their Avandia personal injury cases in federal and state courts with defendant GlaxoSmithKline plc, a source told Mealey Publications May 10.

According to the source, W. Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston and Sol Weiss of Anapol Schwarz in Philadelphia settled their cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where the Avandia multidistrict litigation is located, and in the Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court.  The settlement was described as private, and no amount has been disclosed.

Neither Lanier nor Weiss nor GSK returned calls to confirm the settlement or discuss terms.

Avandia (rosiglitazone) is approved for use in type 2 diabetics to improve insulin utilization.  In 2007, a peer-reviewed meta-analysis of clinical study data published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen, M.D., found that Avandia carried a significant cardiovascular risk.

Federal and state litigation ensued.  The first trials are scheduled to begin next month.

The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating the most recent GSK study of Avandia’s heart risks, and two agency advisory committees are expected to discuss FDA staff findings and make a recommendation at a meeting in July.

[Editor's Note:  Full coverage will be in the May 20 issue of Mealey’s Emerging Drugs & Devices.  For all of your legal news needs, please visit www.lexisnexis.com/mealeys.]

For more information, call editor Tom Moylan at 610-205-1120, or e-mail him at tom.moylan@lexisnexis.com.