Drugmaker May Have Concealed Info From Feds

WASHINGTON, D.C. - When officials at Warner-Lambert Co. discovered they had a potentially life altering diabetes drug in production, they were thrilled. However, new documents show that research quickly showed the drug, Rezulin, caused liver damage.

Executives allegedly continued to promote the drug, which generated $2.1 billion in sales before being taken off the market three years after approval by officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The drug was removed from store shelves because many liver-related deaths were linked to its use. New documents show Warner-Lambert executives may have known about this potentially lethal side effect from the beginning, but instead decided to conceal the information.

Pfizer Inc., which has since acquired Warner-Lambert, has turned information over to officials. More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed for the 5,100 estimated Rezulin users.

Information from www.sfgate.com