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Glaxo, Sanofi Pasteur MSD Under Investigation Over Vaccine |
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| Friday February 1st, 2008 / 10h44 |
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PARIS (AP)---French authorities have launched an investigation into two managers from drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur MSD over an anti-hepatitis B drug vaccination campaign in the 1990's, a judicial source said.
GlaxoSmithkline and Sanofi-Pasteur MSD, a joint venture between Sanofi Aventis (SNY) and Merck & Co. (MRK), have allegedly failed to fully disclose side effects from the vaccine.
Sanofi Pasteur MSD is also accused of manslaughter after a young woman died from complications of multiple sclerosis in 1998 after being vaccined, the same source said.
Dr Benoît Soubeyrand, a Sanofi Pasteur MSD executive, said the company was cooperating with the authorities, although he added that the charges were "unjustified."
Commenting on the manslaughter charge, Soubeyrand said the company "has neither committed a fault nor has been negligent."
"Eleven studies, including three in France, have been conducted on the subject and none has shown the link between multiple sclerosis and the hepatitis B vaccine," he added.
Some 30 plaintiffs have launched a civil action in the case.
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| Friday February 1st, 2008 / 10h44 |
Source : Dowjones Business News |
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