Drug maker agrees to $45M settlement with Louisiana

Published 3:00 pm Friday, July 26, 2013

BATON ROUGE (AP) — GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay Louisiana $45 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of improperly marketing the diabetes drug Avandia and other drugs.

Attorneys for the state and company told a judge Friday that GSK also will pay an additional $7 million to the private lawyers who handled the state’s lawsuits against the firm.

The Advocate reported GSK further agreed to drop a lawsuit it filed last year against state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell. The suit claimed the private lawyers hired by Caldwell had a “personal financial interest” in the outcome of the litigation.

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Attorney Wade Shows, one of the questioned lawyers, says the $45 million is part of a $229 million settlement with seven other states. He says the money will go directly to Louisiana’s Medicaid program.