GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has recently paid $60 million in about 700 Avandia lawsuits over side effects associated with the diabetes drug.  However, thousands of cases against GSK remain.  These cases allege that GSK failed to adequately warn consumers about the risk of heart attacks, heart failure and other fatal injuries.  This agreement, reached about a year ago, was one of the first settlements over the drug.

Avandia’s sales have plummeted as a result of the negative press about the drug.  Some experts claim that Avandia has caused between 60,000 and 200,000 heart attacks and deaths from the time between 1999 and 2006.  The risks became known in May 2007 when a trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  This article suggested that the drug increased the risk of a heart attack by 43%.

The average plaintiff receives about $86,000.  With pressure mounting on GSK to settle cases, victims can be sure that they will receive a payment with the help of a proper and skilled attorney.