GlaxoSmithKline PLC agreed Thursday to release negative data on the safety and effectiveness of its drugs to settle a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general that accused the pharmaceutical maker of misrepresenting data on prescribing its antidepressant drug Paxil to children. GlaxoSmithKline will put summaries of all its studies since December 2000 in a clinical trial registry on its Web site. The London-based company is the first major drug maker to agree to disclose all its studies. The company also will pay $2.5 million to the state as part of the settlement. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued the company for fraud in June, alleging the company withheld the negative information. The suit struck at drug companies’ responsibility to show whether antidepressants increase suicidal tendencies in children and whether the companies skew information on their products by not publicizing all the studies conducted on medicines or editing information on published trials.
