ANOTHER HALCION WIN FOR UPJOHN

Following swiftly on Upjohn's court win in the UK regarding libel by the BBC and a newspaper interview (Marketletter June 6), a federal district court in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, has directed a jury to return a verdict in favor of Upjohn in a civil trial involving the company's anxiolytic Halcion (triazolam). The law suit alleged that a Massachusetts man's suicide had been caused by his use of the drug.

In March of this year, a federal jury in Houston, Texas, also found in favor of Upjohn, rejecting claims that Halcion caused aggressive and suicidal behavior, and in March 1993, a San Antonio, Texas, jury rejected a claim that Halcion caused abnormal behavior. Upjohn notes that these decisions follow conclusions in 1989 and 1992 by Food and Drug Administration advisory committees that Halcion is safe and effective when taken according to its approved labelling.