PhillyInc

Two items make us wonder about the road ahead for Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes medicine now facing new safety questions. First, firms that organize legal strategy sessions for plaintiff lawyers have snapped into action on Avandia. These meetings offer advice and strategy for suing GSK and, perhaps more importantly, create a forum for big firms to get referrals from little ones. Second, a think tank that opposes excessive litigation against drug companies (among other things) is sounding an alarm about Avandia lawsuits, although it cites mainly a single Reuters story as evidence. To be clear, the question is not whether GSK will get sued, but how it responds and whether the lawsuits will constitute a trickle or a tsunami, as Merck & Co. Inc. faces over Vioxx. Merck has disclosed spending more than $1 billion just on lawyers so far. Should GSK put aside a similar reserve? - Thomas Ginsberg