GSK Denied Summary Judgment on Preemption, Learned Intermediary Grounds in Paxil Suicide Case

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge has denied GlaxoSmithKline’s motions for summary judgment in a case in which a law firm partner committed suicide after ingesting generic Paxil, rejecting the drug maker’s argument that the Food and Drug Administration would have rejected stronger suicide warning.

In a Feb. 11 order, Judge James B. Zagel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found a question of fact exists as to whether the decedent’s doctor would have prescribed the drug if it came with a stronger warning.

In June 2010, Stewart Dolin, a partner at the Chicago …