Posted on 06/21/2004 5:13:34 AM PDT by OESY
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has sued so many people based on so little legal authority that it's almost hard to get worked up about it anymore. But it's worth making an exception for his recent lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, because it threatens to damage good science and public health.
Mr. Spitzer is going after British-based Glaxo for "concealing" information about its popular antidepressant medicine, Paxil. According to America's new self-anointed drug czar, Glaxo's crime is that it publicized one study showing Paxil had positive results in adolescents, but didn't advertise four studies that showed inconclusive results or suggested Paxil may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts. Mr. Spitzer alleges these "selective disclosures" robbed doctors of relevant information and constituted "fraud" under New York law.
Makers of antidepressants have also been the latest tort lawyer target, and Mr. Spitzer played to that constituency by weaving a tale of an industry that had routinely manipulated drug information with no real oversight. He added that far from usurping the Food & Drug Administration, he was simply stepping into an area that the federal agency lacked the authority to police. The press corps swallowed this verbatim, which means it missed a few facts.
...
Whatever good Mr. Spitzer has done by drawing attention to Wall Street's sins, it's clear his good press has gone to his head. He's now firing press releases and lawsuits in so many directions that he's hitting and harming innocent bystanders.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I seriously despise Elliot Spitzer. He is frighteningly power hungry and using aggressive anti-business posturing to build his political reputation. The more he files lawsuits, the more accolades he gets from the press and the leftist New York public, and the more targets he looks for to sue. He's a man out of control.
He threatened to sue Sean Hannity over some question Sean asked him during an interview.
Spitzer's involvement is hardly shocking. Businessweek knew these sorts of attacks would be commonplace judging from an article from 2002:
All too often, the AGs hop onto already crowded populist bandwagons, engage in grandstanding rather than sober analysis, then stage dramatic press conferences to announce what amounts to puny settlements.
Yep. Sounds about right to me.
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