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Bayer AG and GlaxoSmithkline Plc were named in a class action lawsuit
over the high-cholesterol treatment Baycol, brought by the US lawyer Edward
Fagan, who has represented thousands of victims in Nazi slave labour suits.
“This is probably one of the largest litigation proceedings in the
history of pharmaceuticals,” Fagan said at a press conference. GlaxoSmithkline
spokesman Phil Thomson said the UK company, which sold Baycol in the US
with bayer, has received a suit. He declined to comment further.
Germany’s biggest drugmaker is facing legal action after Baycol was
linked to at least 52 deaths, and 480 cases of muscle weakening. The company
said on Thursday it will fight claims because it warned of possible side
effects on the medicine’s label. Bayer withdrew Baycol from most
markets last week.
“I am convinced Bayer spent months and months dealing with this problem
because they were not sure how to handle this,”
Fagan said. Bayer said it has “at all times acted in the interests
of patient safety.”
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