GlaxoSmithKline in $41 million settlement in USA over Puerto Rico plant

UK drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) has agreed to pay $40.75 million, which will be divided among 37 US states and the District of Columbia, as part of an agreement reached related to events during the early 2000s at its former manufacturing facility in Cidra, Puerto Rico.

The settlements involve production of adulterated or substandard products made from 2001 through 2005 at GSK’s factory in Cidra, Puerto Rico, which its antidepressant Paxil CR (paroxetine), the anti-infection ointment Bactroban (mupirocin), the sterile anti-nausea medication Kytril (granistetron), and combination type 2 diabetes pill Avandamet (metformin and rosiglitazone).

The company said it chose to settle the matter, which it initially disclosed in its 2010 fourth quarter results and its 2010 annual report, to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation and trial. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing or liability of any kind under these states’ consumer protection laws in this settlement.