PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A notification program began today as ordered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to alert consumers, insurers, and employee welfare benefit plans who paid for the prescription antidepressant Paxil(R) or its generic equivalent, paroxetine, about a proposed $65 million settlement of the case against GlaxoSmithKline.
Notices will be mailed, and are scheduled to appear in newspapers and magazines all over the United States, leading up to a hearing on March 9, 2005, when the Court will consider whether to approve the settlement.
The lawsuit includes people, called a "Class," who paid for Paxil(R) or a generic paroxetine, from January 1, 1998 through September 30, 2004. The Class includes consumers who paid any portion of the cost of Paxil(R) or a generic paroxetine, as well as insurers and Employee Welfare Benefit Plans that paid on behalf of patients and insureds. Governmental entities are included only to the extent that they purchased prescription drugs as part of a health plan for their employees. GlaxoSmithKline, and its officers, directors and affiliated companies are not included.
This lawsuit claims that GlaxoSmithKline broke antitrust and consumer protection laws by keeping lower cost generic versions of Paxil(R) off the market. The lawsuit and the settlement do not relate to any claims about the safety or effectiveness of Paxil(R).
GlaxoSmithKline denies that it did anything wrong. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing or an indication that any law was violated.
The Court has appointed the law firms of RodaNast P.C. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Miller Faucher and Cafferty, LLP of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and The Wexler Firm, LLP of Chicago, Illinois to represent the Class.
Those affected by this settlement can send in a claim form to ask for a payment, or they can ask to be excluded from or object to the settlement and its terms. The deadline for exclusion is January 20, 2005 and the deadline for objections is February 15, 2005. Payment amounts will depend on the amount of Paxil(R) that was purchased and the number of valid claims filed. The deadline to file claims is April 15, 2005.
A toll-free number, 1-866-404-0134, has been established in the case (called Nichols v. SmithKline Beecham, No. 00-cv-6222), along with a website, http://www.paxilclaims.com/, where a more detailed notice, claim form, and the settlement agreement may be obtained. Those affected may also write to Paxil Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 24754, West Palm Beach, FL 33416.
Pennsylvania
The United States District Court for the Eastern District ofCONTACT: Dianne M. Nast, RodaNast P.C., +1-717-892-3000,dnast@rodanast.com
Web site: http://www.paxilclaims.com/
