Indictment of former GlaxoSmithKline in-house attorney dismissed

Federal US prosecutors in the criminal case against Lauren Stevens, the indicted former in-house counsel of UK drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) received a double dose of bad news last week. First the judge ruled against the government in saying that Ms Stevens can claim an advice-of-counsel defense to the charges against her. Then the judge dismissed the case without prejudice.

Ms Stevens was indicted last fall on several counts. She is accused of trying to obstruct the FDA's probe into whether GSK had off-label marketed the depression drug Wellbutrin SR (bupropion; The Pharma Letter November 10, 2010).

Judge Roger Titus found that the prosecutors' explanation to the grand jurors of the "advice of counsel" defense was erroneous because the government instructed the grand jurors that advice of counsel was an affirmative defense to be raised at trial, explained JP Ellison of law firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara.