GlaxoSmithKline has paid nearly $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it began selling the antidepressant in 1993, Bloomberg News reported, citing court records and people familiar with the cases.
The total included about $390 million for suicides or attempted suicides said to be linked to the drug, Bloomberg reported.
GSK, the British drugmaker with a North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, hasn't disclosed a settlement total. Spokeswoman Sarah Alspach declined to confirm the $1 billion figure.
That total doesn't include more than 600 claims that Paxil caused birth defects. A Philadelphia jury on Oct. 13 found that GSK should pay $2.5 million to the family of a three-year-old boy born with a heart defect after his mother took Paxil while pregnant.
GSK's provision for legal and other non-tax disputes was more than $3 billion at the end of 2008.
Paxil sales in the U.S. have fallen sharply since generic rivals were introduced in 2003. Through September of this year, U.S. sales were $52 million, down 52 percent from the sale period in 2008.
Read the full Bloomberg report here.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or 
